European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 24, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns James Kilpatrick the stars and stripes sunday november 24, 1985 the courts wrong a gun shop in t a dram shop last month the mar land court of App can handed Down a decision extending what is know As the dram shop Rule it he manufacture and Sale of cer Tain firearms. It was an instance of Good intentions producing a bad Law. I or sum years a body of Law has been growing to this effect people who Are responsible for pelting other people drunk a be held responsible for the consequences. This is the dram shop Rule. Hack in april the . Govern men agreed to pay $250.000 to the family of a Man killed in an Auto crash caused by a Drunken Soldier the Soldier had gotten drunk in a government club. A Missouri court awarded s�2.000 to a couple whose son was killed by a Driver who got drunk in a bar offering free Beer. In May the new Jersey supreme court extended the Rule id private hosts who let their guests drink excessively and drive. The Maryland handgun decision tracks the same principles. A Man was shot in inc Chest during an armed robbery of the grocery store where he worked. The fire Arm was a cheap snub nosed weapon. On his recovery he sued the manufacturer of inc gun. Under former Rul s of product liability the Maryland court would have dismissed the suit. The Sale and posses Sion of certain handguns said the court is not inconsistent with Public policy. But inc court was ready to write a new Law there is. However a category of handguns thai Public policy clearly docs not Sanction. This Type of handgun is commonly culled a saturday night Spe Cial such guns generally arc Char Acler i cd by Short barrels Light weight easy conceal ability Low Cost cheap Quality materials poor manufacture inaccuracy and unreliability. These characteristics Render them particularly attractive for criminal use and virtually useless for legitimate purposes of Law enforcement sport and Protection of persons properly and  such  said the court should not be treated like other guns. The manufacturer or marketer of a saturday night special knows or ought to know hat the chief use of the product is for criminal  he court said. On this line of reasoning the court concluded that in cases involving injury or death suffered in criminal offences involving such guns liability May be imposed All the Way from the original manufacturer on Down to the final seller of the weapon. Ii strikes me that the Maryland court made a kind of trampoline leap in this Case from the dram shop o the gun shop. The bartender who Sells a drunk customer one More for the Road or the Host who gives his Gucal 12 Shols of scotch before seeing him to his car. Has a direct and immediate involvement in whatever Hap pens. The gun dealer w no Sells a customer a cheap pistol cannot know nol in the same Way that violent crime is Likely to follow. This is conjectural. Some Home owners or merchants in High crime areas unable to afford More expensive weapons could be buying a cheap gun for Protection. The doctrine of ought to know Calls for a lot of speculation. What we have Here i submit is a kind of gun control by judicial decree. Maybe this is the Only effective Way to get at inc intractable problem of inc saturday night special bul it is not the Best Way. If inc Law of product liability is to be extended in this dramatic fashion in ought to be extended by legislative enactment heaven knows in is formidably difficult to gel any son of gun control legislation through Congress or the states. Some months ago. The Senate voted 79-15 for a Bill thai May help marginally. The Bill bars inc import Avion of barrels ant frames for these cheap handguns in Fixa a mandatory additional sentence of five years for anyone who uses a handgun in t Federal crime it makes it illegal for any one. Not just a dealer to sell a firearm to a Felon menial pal incl or drug addict. Be the Senate also voted to ease cer Tain provisions of inc Basic 1968 gun control act and it rejected by 71-23 i sensible amendment to require a 14-Day wailing period below eco Sale and delivery of a handgun. The House judiciary com Mittee is sitting on the Bill and no action is expected Unhul a Cal year. Perhaps chairman Peter Rodino of the judiciary committee might look at the Maryland Case and think about writing this new View of product liability into fed eral Law. The threat of being sued for damages might be just inc incentive to Stop manufacturers and dealers from end aging in a traffic in concealable handguns that can l readily be defended. C Universal pret Syndicate met Mary Mcgrory to cute. A Saturn night special a not so special saturday night the Church Nof fhe a a is Ortega s chief rival Daniel Ortega the president of Nicaragua. Knows he is a terrible irial for the people in the United slates who have gone bail for him. I ook cd at  he says of his latest Public relations bomb the imposition just before his arrival a the United nations of a stale of emergency on his poor battered country there is no logical explanation of the timing of the  the logical explanation being Given by inc gleefully outraged right Wing is thai Onega has unmasked himself As Percsi Donl Reagan s loony tunes  in an Carly Moring interview recently Orlega said philosophically that it was like inc last Lime when Days after Congress cancelled All Aid to the contras he look off for Moscow. When i did Hal in was a bucket of cold water he said As his wife the poetess Rosario Murillo passed tortillas and poured Coffee in inc couple s United nations Pla a suite. I had logo to Moscow because in was a Muller of life or a Cash for Nicaragua. We had no  when he was deliberating Aboul depriving nicaraguans of Freedom of the press pc com of Assembly and other rights of democracy he said we look into account what Congress is doing. Bul they arc not slap Ping the  Ortega has been bombarded with Public relations advice and at Casl Aboul clothes he has accepted. He was wearing a dark Blue Blazer and Gray flannel Slacks. New York s mayor. De Koch praised him for his Mufti at a . Reception. You look More peace  he said. The forced military busier thai put off visitors to Managua has been modified. He looked Boyish and was focused and Earnest. His handlers thought he had shown he is no marxist monster in his new York stay. He decisively broke out of the . Pack by being the Only head of Sale to jog five Miles in Central Park. He was pictured on National television shaking hands with Reagan at a . Function. He and Rosario made a sym Aluciic appearance on  As a beleaguered third world Yuppie couple. Bul no one told him thai the Leader of a dirt poor country should not throw his Money around and in the trip s Only Boner he spent $3,500 on eyeglass frames Ata new York optical store he wound up however at a mass meeting of . Sympathizers from All Over he country so doling that they hissed someone who asked him Aboul the glasses. He old All Comers that he had not wanted inc stat of emergency. Bul it was better to do it before i came to the  if i had waited until i got Back to Nicaragua they would say i had met a Ord leaders under false Colo that i was a hypocrite. What we Don t want is a repetition of the chilean  he said. Allendc was elected he was extremely respectful of Legal forms and judicial niceties it is Well known what the Cia was doing but he never put on a slate of emergency. We would rather nut make inc same mistakes. We would rather guard our survival by taking these measures than to receive Posl Oriem condolences from the International  he spoke of left Wing extremists common ii who demand higher wages bonuses More expo poll Lions. Bul in i he a communist no he says. "1 am nol a communist. I am a Sandi Mia and Ihnn adds a Louch inca tribally my fint revolutionary example was Christ nol  bul in is nol inc Iofi Wing inc contras or even the Cia that most threatens his control of his country. It i his fellow townsman. Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo. The Cardinal is spearheading the resistance to the draft. He holds enormous rallies where he covertly encourages resistance according to Ortega. On the night Obando showed certain  Ortega said but he was provincial. He asked me Cluj great Gravity. Won t they throw me in jail in Cut Al he Houghl All or Icsis were killed in Cuba. It s the same wild he clergy today. I want to advice and opinions. But when they come they All Tow lists my Church needs repairs or my Road Bai  paved i Tell hem you cannot get it out of your mind Law any revolution is going to wipe Oul inc Church wipe out religion. You absolutely distrust anything we do because of Hal Orlega is washing his hands of Hil congressional sympathizers As they doubtless will a him leaving Reagan free to continue the Incon Clutis War and All the misery it emails for Nicaragua. C in Verial Prew Syndicate