Commercials by Gun Industry Will Try to Counter Litigation
By JAMES DAO
WASHINGTON, July 27 — Asserting that gun manufacturers are
in dire jeopardy from a raft of lawsuits by state and local
governments, the firearms industry plans to start running
commercials during prime-time coverage of the Republican
National Convention next week attacking President Clinton
and other politicians, mostly Democrats, who support the
litigation. “We’re being blamed for crime and violence by
this administration and big-city mayors whose greedy lawyers
are using your tax dollars to sue us,” says the narrator in
one of the two 60-second spots, which depict a well-dressed
man, presumably a lawyer, carefully shredding an American
flag. “So now, we need you.”
The commercials by the National Shooting Sports Foundation,
the industry’s leading trade association, are part of a
broader effort by the group to
hurt elected officials who have accused gun makers of being
legally responsible for gun violence. The group has also
created a political action committee and is using its
nationwide network of retailers and gun clubs to register
voters.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/072800nra-guns.html