Wednesday, July 07, 1999
Winburn proposes gun-victim law
Money would come from gun maker suit
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Christine Mixon, left, likes Charlie Winburn's plan. Her son, Marco, 20, right, was 13 when his cousin shot him while playing with a friend's gun.
(Tony Jones photo)
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A Republican councilman who opposes Cincinnati's lawsuit against gun makers will ask today for money earmarked for the legal battle to instead be used to pay local victims of gun violence.
Charlie Winburn will unveil a plan this morning, modeled after the state's crime victims compensation program, that would pay up to $5,000 to Cincinnati victims of gun-related crimes.
He says victims are forgotten in the city's pending lawsuit against gun makers. So he is asking nationally known liability lawyer Stanley Chesley, lead council in Cincinnati's gun lawsuit, to return $100,000 in lawsuit money to taxpayers and take on the case pro bono.
“Nowhere in the lawsuit does it say it's suing for victims,” Mr. Winburn said. “We're actually throwing money out of a plane. If we're going to do it, let's do it for the people who were really hurt.”
After a 5-4 vote of city council in April, the city filed suit against handgun makers to recover the costs of gun-related violence. About two dozen other U.S. cities also are targeting those who make and sell guns.
Proponents say the suit is justified by the level of gun violence in the city over the past six years, including 107 gun-related homicides, 84 suicides and six accidental shootings.
Council authorized the city solicitor's office to spend $100,000 on the case and hire Mr. Chesley, one of the nation's top product liability lawyers.
Mr. Chesley said the money is not being used for attorneys fees, but it is for expenses such as experts and statistical analysis. He said he will not back down under the proposal from Mr. Winburn, a National Rifle Association member who opposed the suit from the start.
“I think he's misfocused on what the lawsuit is about,” said Mr. Chesley, co-counsel in a similar lawsuit filed earlier this year by New Orleans. “The lawsuit is not about getting gun victims money.”
The focus, he said, is on getting gun makers to change marketing, advertising and promotion and to mandate safety in gun manufacturing.
But there may be popularity behind Mr. Winburn's plan. It sounds good to Christine Mixon, who wonders whether her family could have been eligible for money for victims of gun violence.
The 44-year-old Avondale mother has been caring for her son, Marco Mixon, now 20, since he was shot in the head seven years ago.
A 15-year-old cousin was charged in the shooting in juvenile court and served community service. Mr. Mixon's life is forever changed.
“He wants to work, but he can't hold a job because he has what you call a short-term memory,” Ms. Mixon said. He was recently fired because of his memory problems, she said.
The family's medical costs were covered, but the state victims of crime fund did not pay for the family's economic loss, she said.
Mr. Winburn said his plan would be tailored to victims of gun crimes.
But critics, such as Councilman Tyrone Yates — one the five Democratic council members who support the gun lawsuit — say Mr. Winburn's proposal would duplicate victim services already provided by the state.
The state pays more than $10 million a year to about 4,000 victims of crimes, according to the attorney general's office.
Critics of a local victim's fund say tying money for victims to the city's lawsuit against gun manufacturers misses the point of the lawsuit.
“I think that it's a proposal that may sound good to a lot of people when it's announced, but I'm not sure how doable it is, and it does miss the point of the litigation,” Democratic Councilman Todd Portune said.
Mr. Chesley said the lawsuit is about trying to have gun manufacturers change the way they do business. Mr. Winburn calls it a “wild goose chase.”
Mr. Winburn's supporters, including local attorney Donald Lerner, say it's a fight the city has little chance of winning.
Mr. Winburn said he will present his proposal at a meeting today in Mount Lookout and ask council to vote for his victims of gun violence compensation initiative at a meeting next month.
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