SINCE the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Connecticut has been a leading producer of guns, the birthplace of the Colt revolver that tamed the West. But now the state's cities are turning against the industry and joining a wave of lawsuits aimed at taming handguns at the expense of their manufacturers.
The Mayor of Bridgeport, Joseph P. Ganim -- saying that the manufacturers fail to employ new technology that could make their products safer and that the failure constitutes negligence -- announced last week that his city had filed suit in State Superior Court under Connecticut's product liability laws. Mr. Ganim also said that officials in Hartford and New Haven are studying whether to join him. ''We're very interested in what he's doing,'' said Hartford Mayor Mike Peters. New Haven has begun to research the legal issues, and will probably file a lawsuit as well, says the city's Corporation Counsel, Thayer Baldwin. He expected that New Haven would extend an invitation to gun manufacturers to negotiate before filing a such a suit.
The Bridgeport suit named 12 American firearms manufacturers, three handgun trade associations, and a dozen southwestern Connecticut gun dealers, and asked for damages ''in excess of $100 million.''
Robert R. Simpson, a lawyer who is helping represent Bridgeport, said the gun shops were included for being part of the ''stream of commerce'' in the gun industry, and the trade associations for promoting the idea -- which he labeled as false -- that handgun ownership is an effective means of personal protection.
Mr. Ganim has offered to negotiate a settlement if the companies will agree to improve the design of their handguns to prevent their misuse. ''We're saying to the handgun manufacturers that from now on you are responsible for the cost of handgun violence, not Bridgeport families,'' Mr. Ganim said at a news conference last Wednesday.
The action adds Bridgeport to a growing number of cities across the country that have taken the suggestion of the United States Conference of Mayors, on whose advisory board Mr. Ganim sits, to seek stricter controls on handguns through litigation, a goal that has proved elusive through legislation.
The idea was inspired by state lawsuits against the tobacco industry that claimed that cigarette makers marketed a product that they knew caused disease, and that activity cost the states billions of dollars in increased Medicaid costs.
