Arkansas Blog

Dustin is in trouble on this issue. His name is all over the law suit. He actually signed his name to the pleadings, which means he was the lead attorney. He was caught in a lie about his role.

The candidates for Arkansas Attorney General getting into a tizzy over gun control.... hardly a red letter day. And that quote from Dustin about "my idea of gun control is to aim with both hands"... that's ridiculous. And on this subject... wasnt it Brummett that had a good article on how the Dem. candidates for AG got into it over guns in the primaries?

In South Arkansas, being on the wrong side of the gun issue will get you beat.

Just ask Jay Bradford.

This is a major problem for McDaniel, no matter how he tries to spin it.

McDaniel has SHOT himself in the foot on this issue.

McDaniel is so full of crap on this issue.

He is a bald faced liar about his role in the lawsuit; and even about the status of the lawsuit which he used as an excuse not to comment.

The trigger lock part of the suit which involved Dustin's suit of Remington Arms was dismissed--therefore there is no reason he can't talk about it.

Surely noone thinks that either of these throwbacks has any influence on the sacred cult of guns. Then again, we are all so very easily fooled by anyone now, it could be that people will actually fall for some of this crap.

Remember how McDaniel tried to position himself as the liberal in the runoff with Suske? Guess the Hillcrest crowd is having a little indigestion now. He abandons liberals on gay foster parenting, guns and I am sure he will moderate his position on choice. Some liberal.

As an attorney, if I sue a drunk driver does that mean I'm anti-auto industry or that I am opposed to people driving?

This is different how from the Jonesboro School shooting?

there is more to come out there that Suskie was too nice to bring out. Delay won't have that concern I can assure you. This is a big one but there are others.....

Dustin: Send a lengthy news release with your history of supporting firearms, hunting, and the Second Amendment to every media outlet in the state....now. Especially the tiny weeklies and radio in rural counties. You still have half a chance to be proactive on this issue. DON'T think this will pass and DON'T let DeLay go on his 40 town tour with this BS claim. Remember Swiftboat Vets and Al Gore's gun probs?

People in small towns often times hear news once and believe that first impression whether it's true or not.

That's my two cents. Take it or leave it.

Dustin,

Can the glib remarks. You are going to hang yourself if you don't stop and think before you speak. You should hire a seasoned media person to keep you out of hot water. It obvious that you and your buddy Willett shoot first and aim later. For the good of the people of Arkansas, stop it.

We have a Jr. Slick Willy in the making.

Can you tell me what the meaning of "signature" is?

Touting that he is a member of the NRA is a setback, in my eyes. I own guns, but I don't want to have anything to do with those knuckleheads.

Dustin - you lost my vote and and I expect a lot more with that remark "my idea of gun control is to aim with both hands"...

I am ashamed that you are the Dems candidate for Attorney General -

Odd, Warwick, how you didn't report any of the facts about the fact that McDaniel was party to suing gun manufacturers. I figured you'd be proud of that.

"As an attorney, if I sue a drunk driver does that mean I'm anti-auto industry or that I am opposed to people driving?"

Of course not.

Suing gun manufacturers would be like you suing Budweiser after being hit by a drunk driver who had been drinking Bud. It is not the manufacturer of the product that is at fault, it is the person who misuses the product.

Why isn't McDaniel bragging about this? He should be proud of it. These Times libs should be running commercials advertising it.

"As an attorney, if I sue a drunk driver does that mean I'm anti-auto industry or that I am opposed to people driving?" Of course not.
Suing gun manufacturers would be like you suing Budweiser after being hit by a drunk driver who had been drinking Bud. It is not the manufacturer of the product that is at fault, it is the person who misuses the product."

Tell that to the Tobacco Industry...they've been sued six ways to Sunday...and there can't be a person dead or alive who actually didn't/doesn't realize that tobacco products are hazardous to your health!

The tobacco industry? Aside from the fact that people have known that cigarettes cause cancer forever, that stilll has nothing to do with suing them for crimes related to the use or misuse of their product.

Have they ever been sued because someone burned a child with a cigarette butt?

Okay, change the subject now.

Good idea. The discussion should be about McDaniel's lies and misrepresentations.

He tries to be all things to all people...against guns one day, avid hunter the next. "Fighting for our Families" one day, cheating on his wife/hitting his wife the next. Against abortion/for abortion. Law enforcement officer one day, drug user the next day.

C'mon Dustin...pick a position and stick with it!

Hey watch what you say he is the shinning star front runner of a new democratic force in AR, or haven't yall heard.

yeah, I heard that...threw up a little in my mouth

Maybe Dustin will sue Willett for being deadly to the Democratic Party.

Why do crack dealers go to jail for selling something that can kill, but gun dealers are even given favorable treatment over other retailers?

After all, if someone smokes crack, it's their own fault and not the dealer's. Just as with guns.

Don't get me wrong. I own probably a dozen guns. But this continuing worship of them is wrong. The biggest threat to our freedom is not some attorney suing a gun manufacture, it's religious fundamentalists and republicans set on taking away my civil liberties.

Roland,

Because guns are legal and crack isn't. That simple.

"...but gun dealers are even given favorable treatment over other retailers?"

Please explain how they get favorable treatment. If their product is defective, they can and should be sued. If someone uses their product to kill someone, they are not and should not be liable.

And I agree that our biggest problem is vanishing civil liberties...I see someone who will sue a gun manufacturer as illogical and possibly a threat to my civil liberties.

Owning a gun is a civil liberty. Shooting is one of my hobbies that I happen to enjoy. If you choose not to own a gun, goody for you, but don't try to take away my rights. These witch hunts have got to stop. By the way I also think the NRA is a group of blowhards but the candidates have got to have their endoresement. I am thrilled that Dustin acquired it. This will make it so much easier for me to convince my hunting buddies that it is safe to vote for him. Any idea how hard it is to keep gun enthusiests voting Democratic? This is going to be tough with Dustin. I plan on blaming it on greed. It's just about the only viable excuse left for him.

Crack dealers have never been tried for what their customer did.

"the NRA is a group of blowhards"

Like them or hate them if it wasnt for the NRA your gun rights would have been long gone my friend.

Oh and the NRA says they havent endorsed any candidate for AG,

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/150435/print/

But Im pretty sure it wont be the money grubbing trial lawyer McDaniel.

Better to read this infomation as it was written by other sources also, offers a more diverse perspective on the issue. Long post, granted, figured reading about it here is more likely to happen than clicking on a web link.

The story as the AP wrote it:

AG candidate targets rival over Jonesboro gun lawsuit

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press Writer
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) -- Republican attorney general candidate Gunner DeLay on Tuesday said Democratic rival Dustin McDaniel's involvement in a lawsuit filed against a gun maker following a 1998 Jonesboro school shooting hurts McDaniel's stance on gun-rights issues.

DeLay said McDaniel, a state representative from Jonesboro, is trying to play down his role in the lawsuit filed against Sporting Goods Properties, formerly Remington Arms.

McDaniel's father, attorney Bobby McDaniel, filed the lawsuit after a 1998 shooting that killed four middle school students and an English teacher at Jonesboro Westside Middle School. The lawsuit was filed while Dustin McDaniel was in law school, but he said he did some work on the case.

The suit named Remington because it produced one of the guns used in the shootings. The company was dismissed from the suit in May 2000.

"He has tried to downplay the role he played in this litigation," DeLay said in a press conference outside the Garland County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon. "This was a political lawsuit. It was a lawsuit with a political agenda to send a message to the gun industry."

Displaying court documents filed with McDaniel's signature, DeLay said he thinks McDaniel's work on the case shows that the state representative would use the attorney general's office to target gun manufacturers.

"If Mr. McDaniel believes that a gun made without a trigger lock is defective, he could use the power of his office to recall any weapon that didn't have that trigger lock," DeLay said.

McDaniel called DeLay's criticisms "absurd," and said they were an effort to distract from the first day of initial enrollment of the Arkansas Rx program. The program, created by legislation sponsored by McDaniel, authorizes the state to negotiate with drug companies for rebates on prescription drugs for the uninsured.

"Frankly it doesn't surprise me that he's trying to divert attention from something that's legitimate and helpful to thousands of Arkansans," McDaniel said. "This is desperate and distorted old news."
McDaniel said he would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit or whether he personally supported it, but said he asked to be taken off the case and said he was not the lead attorney on the case.

He also said he supported legislation signed into law by President Bush last year that protected gun manufacturers from liability for the misuse of a legal product.

McDaniel, a former police officer, has touted his pro-gun credentials during the primary campaign and boasts about his experience as a hunter.

McDaniel on Tuesday noted that DeLay does not have a hunting license with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

DeLay, a former state senator from Fort Smith, said he has not actively hunted in a couple of years but when he did, he hunted in Oklahoma.

"What does a hunting license have to do with his hostility toward gunmakers?" DeLay said. "The second amendment is not about a Constitutional right to hunt."

The story as the NWA Times and DemGaz wrote it.

Suit involving McDaniel aimed to restrict guns, DeLay says
BY JAKE BLEED
Arkansas Democrat/Gazette

Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Republican attorney general candidate Gunner DeLay on Tuesday criticized state Rep. Dustin McDaniel, his Democratic opponent, for participating in a lawsuit against a gun manufacturer.

DeLay said the 1998 lawsuit on behalf of victims of the Jonesboro school shootings was simply about restricting people's right to bear arms.

"This was a political lawsuit," DeLay said at a news conference at a North Little Rock gun store. He said the lawsuit had a political agenda against gun owners and weapons.

McDaniel called DeLay's statement outlandish and untrue... I'm a gun owner and a hunter, and I have never taken actions in private life and never will to restrict lawful ownership of firearms by the people of Arkansas.

The news conference was the first in 40 stops DeLay said he'll make at gun stores, pawn shops and other businesses that sell firearms over the next six days. The tour is intended to publicize what DeLay says is his strong record in support of gun owners's rights and McDaniel's role in the lawsuit.

DeLay has indicated in recent weeks that he plans to step up his campaign against McDaniel and that the lawsuit involving the gun manufacturer would play a major role in that effort.

He's previously gone after McDaniel over the lawsuit. But DeLay on Tuesday released documents that he said indicate the depth of McDaniel's involvement.

DeLay, a former lawmaker from Fort Smith, and McDaniel, a House member from Jonesboro, are vying to succeed At torney General Mike Beebe in the Nov. 7 election. Beebe, a Democrat, is running for governor.

The lawsuit was filed by McDaniel's father, attorney Bobby McDaniel of Jonesboro, on behalf of families of the shooting victims at Westside Middle School in March 1998. Four students and a teacher were killed in the attack. The lawsuit was also filed against the two boys who carried out the shooting and their parents.

Defendants in the suit included Sporting Goods Properties Inc., formerly known as Remington Arms Co., which made one of the weapons used in the shooting.

Victims attorneys, including Bobby and Dustin McDaniel, had argued that the gun maker was liable in some of the killings because a trigger lock wasn't included when the gun was sold. Police linked two of the deaths to the weapon, a Remington 742 rifle.

At the press conference, DeLay distributed copies of court documents filed by Dustin McDaniel in the case. One filing that was signed by the younger McDaniel argued that a gun maker could be held liable if it made a weapon without a trigger lock that was later used to kill.

According to the filing, Dustin McDaniel argued that a jury should be allowed to decide if Sporting Goods Properties was liable in the killings because it placed an unreasonably dangerous product on the market that caused injuries.

A Poinsett County circuit judge dismissed the gun maker from the lawsuit in 2000 in part because the weapon was stolen before the shooting.

DeLay called the lawsuit's arguments far out of the mainstream of Arkansas values.

"I think most Arkansans are going to have a very difficult time with the concept that if their weapons are stolen and used in a crime by a third party, that legal liability should attached." DeLay said.

McDaniel declined to say whether he agreed with the argument used in the lawsuit. The case is still open, and McDaniel said he did not want his comments to help or hurt the case.

McDaniel graduated from law school several months after the case was filed. He said he took part as a junior member of his father's firm.

That's what young associate lawyers do, he said.

McDaniel said he supported federal legislation passed last year that protected gun manufacturers from liability lawsuits.

"We need a federal law to protect the people from attorneys like him and his father? DeLay asked in response. "He supports a law that prohibits what he and his father did? That is the biggest flip flop I've ever heard of."

McDaniel'ss campaign issued a statement Tuesday saying the candidate had an A rating from the National Rifle Association and that McDaniel hasn't missed a hunting season in Arkansas since he was 12-yearsold.

That statement also said De-Lay did not have an Arkansas hunting license. DeLay said he was licensed to hunt in Oklahoma.

The Republican said hunting isn't the purpose of the Second Amendment of the Constitution. That amendment states a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

"If he thinks the Second Amendment is about hunting, he needs to reread the Constitution, DeLay said. "It's about the right of self protection."

DeLay also said he held an event over the weekend to raise funds for his campaign at the Remington Arms Co. in Lonoke.

Video of the event on De-Lay's campaign Web site shows the candidates son, Gunner Jr., firing a variety of automatic weapons.

DeLay said the event was part of his son's 17 th birthday party. He declined to say how much the event raised for his campaign.

Read the lawsuit in full and make up your own mind, it's available at:

http://www.gunnerdelay.com/Remington.pdf

Dustin - grow up. Democrats across the state are counting on you. Your flippant remarks do not build confidence. We need a mature adult to serve as AG. It's not too late!

I am confused.

On McDaniels website it says, "'Arkansas Rx' will make prescription medication more affordable for over 400,000 Arkansans." www.dustinmcdaniel.com/aboutdustin.htm.

Now the state expert says, that "he expects about 20,000 people to sign up based on his analysis of participants in the 10 states that have similar programs." www.nwanews.com/adg/News/161526/

So which one is it McDaniel. Will 400,000 benefit from lower drug prices or will 20,000.

I voted for McD the first time, but the more I learn about him the less I like him.

Dustin Shoots himself in the foot.

http://thecitizensjournalblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/mcdaniel-not-one-for-truth.html

Delay is either stupid or a typical politician or both. The Attorney General doesn't get to choose which state laws he defends. Likewise a junior lawyer doesn't get to choose which cases are taken by a law firm. They both have the job of working for their boss. Is Delay saying he would not do the job of attorney general if he didn't agree with our state laws?

No wonder Mr. Delay doesn't want McDaniels to bring up hunting. He doesn't even hunt in Arkansas. At least McDaniel supports Arkansas hunting by buying an Arkansas hunting license.

I've heard Delay is a little off, but does he really think he can paint a former cop that hunts every year as anti-gun? He's toast if this is the best he can do. Is he really trying to say that McDaniels A rating from the NRA is meaningless?

The program is available to approximately 400,000. The state nor McDaniel are to blame if people don't take advantage of it. The point is that 400,000 now have that option thanks to McDaniel.

I think you will be very hard pressed to find any attorneys or court personel in the Fort Smith area who would vote for Mr. Delay.

It is McDaniel's fault that he made it sound that he already lowered drug costs for hundreds of thousands and then when he got busted on that he switched to it WILL lower drug costs for hundreds of thousands. The point is that the program is not funded nor will it be promoted in a way that will lower drug costs for mulititudes of Arkansans. McDaniel has known this all along. But I guess at this point everyone has figured out that he has no problem lying.

the bold and the blue...the answer is a resounding YES to your questions.