T G D A  N E W S L E T T E R

Boston, Smith & Wesson drop agreement

In April, the city of Boston asked a court to vacate the gun control agreement it signed with Smith & Wesson in December of 2000. The agreement would have required S&W to sell its firearms only to those dealers who met certain standards of conduct, such as, storing S&W firearms in a locked safe overnight, training employees in an approved safety program, requiring purchasers to pass a comprehensive safety exam, not selling firearms at gun shows, and carrying $1 million perpetual liability insurance coverage against property damage and personal injury resulting from the sale of the firearm. S&W made the deal with the city of Boston and the Clinton Administration to remove itself from the lawsuits filed by over 25 different cities in 2000 seeking to recover the public costs of gun violence. The Bush Administration announced it would not enforce the S&W/HUD agreement last year.