The People's Republic of California Governor Gray Davis has signed several bills yesterday, including repealing the special immunity that shielded gun manufacturers from baseless harassing 'product liability' lawsuits. The move is pure political pandering, and it shows that Davis will do anything to get re-elected, including selling his soul to the devil.

The fact remains that there is no legal basis on which to sue gun manufacturers for the criminal misuse of their products. For a lawsuit to be successful, the plaintiff would have to establish a direct link between the gun manufacturers, and the actions of those who use the product. Suing gun manufacturers for violent crime is as absurd as suing auto manufacturers for car accidents.

The only reason these lawsuits are brought to bear is to harass gun manufacturers, and drive up their legal bills. Yesterday, Gray Davis pandered to the gun-grabbing special interests, and gave them the green light to jam the courts with frivolous baseless lawsuits for this sole purpose. Sadly, there is little the gun manufacturers can do within the state of California to stop it. Even though gun manufacturers have the right to pursue legal fees for lawsuits that are found to be without merit, their likelihood of success within the liberal California courts is pretty low. As a general rule in any state, judges, who are all former lawyers themselves, don't do much to discourage frivolous lawsuits. Meting out punishment in such a fashion is quite rare already, much more so by liberal courts like California's.