INDIANAPOLIS — Almost 25 years after suing the firearms industry for failing to prevent illegal gun sales, the northwestern Indiana city of Gary won a critical victory last fall when a judge ordered gun manufacturers to hand over years of production and sales records.
But in March, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a new law retroactively banning cities from bringing such lawsuits, effectively halting the case. Republicans said the gun industry is not responsible for illegal sales. Critics say the legislation shows lawmakers don’t consider ending gun crime a priority and reflects their apathy for Gary’s majority Black residents.
“There’s gun violence everywhere you turn in America,” longtime Gary resident Rev. Dena Holland-Neal said. “And someone has to be accountable.”
Gary is more racially diverse than the rest of Indiana and, sitting just east of Chicago, is one of its few Democratic strongholds. Most of its estimated 67,970 population is Black in contrast to 10% of people statewide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hospital chaplain Carmen McKee, who counsels victims of gun violence and their families, said racism underscores the actions of policymakers who dismiss Gary’s needs as, “‘It’s just Gary’ or ’It’s just another area of people of color.’”
“But yet they would not allow it to happen in their area,” McKee said.
Gary was among dozens of U.S. cities to sue major gun-makers and sellers in reaction to the out-of-control homicide rates and violent crime of the 1990s. But the other cities’ cases fell by the wayside, leaving Gary’s as the last suit standing when, in November, a Lake County judge ordered manufacturers to produce decades of business records.
“This case has persevered because it’s a valid claim,” said Rodney Pol, an attorney on the case and a Democratic state senator representing Gary.
Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature moved quickly to approve the new law t