COLUMBUS — Gun manufacturers have already convinced two Ohio courts they cannot be held responsible when criminals use their products to rob, injure and kill.

        On Tuesday, the city of Cincinnati asked the Ohio Supreme Court to give its lawsuit against gun makers one more chance.

        During oral arguments, city attorneys insisted the gun industry can and should be linked to police and health costs spurred by gun violence.

        Attorney Paul M. DeMarco told the court the industry is well aware of a black market that funnels firearms to minors and criminals. He said that distribution system, combined with a lack of gun safety features, costs Cincinnati taxpayers millions for police time, emergency workers and court costs.

        “In a four-month period, 107 shootings — 13 on one street, four on one block,” Mr. DeMarco said. “The police are so overwhelmed homicide cops work 29-hour shifts.”

        Industry lawyers said gun manufacturers should not be sued because they cannot control what happens to their products after they are legally sold to federally licensed wholesalers.

        “There is no indication that the manufacturers have done anything that's unlawful or illegal,” said James P. Dorr, an attorney for Sturm, Ruger & Co., a Connecticut-based gun maker.

        Cincinnati is one of 32 city and county governments to sue the gun-making industry in recent years. Of those, lawsuits filed by 12 California cities and counties, Boston, and Wilmington, Del., are headed for trial.

        Cincinnati's suit was dismissed in a 1999 pre-trial hearing. Hamilton County Judge Robert Ruehlman concluded the misuse of firearms is beyond gun makers' control.

        An Ohio appeals court upheld the industry victory in 2000. The 3-0 ruling concluded that suing gun makers for gun violence makes about as much sense as suing match makers for arson.

        A few of the high court justices echoed that statement Tuesday. Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer asked if a liquor distillery should be held liable if a tavern owner lets a drunken customer drive home.

        Justice Deborah Cook also questioned whether gun makers should be held responsible when their products are sold to criminals.

        “These defendants do not control that black market,” Justice Cook said.

        The justices' comments do not guarantee gun makers another court win. Justice Andrew Douglas twice linked this case to the historic tobacco industry lawsuit and criticized industry arguments.

        “It would seem to me that your position is that no legal course of action could ever be stated in the design, sale and distribution of something as dangerous as a gun,” Justice Douglas said.

        The court agreed to hear the case in January in a narrow 4-3 decision that's become very familiar in controversial cases.

        Justices Douglas, Alice Robie Resnick, Paul Pfeifer and Francis Sweeney voted to hear the case. Chief Justice Moyer, and Justices Cook and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton dissented.

        This split first appeared in two 4-3 decisions declaring the state's school funding system unconstitutional.

        The same four justices also overturned a state law intended to limit the amounts juries can award in product liability cases.

        Whether a majority of the court will side with the city and order the Hamilton County court to reopen the lawsuit won't be known until an opinion is published three to six months from now.

        In a related issue, a new state law banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers will take effect Monday. Whether the law can bar a lawsuit filed in 1999 is unclear.

        Attorneys were reluctant to predict what the Supreme Court will do. Thomas Fennell, a Dallas-based attorney representing the Colt gun company, said gun makers are “too far removed” from criminals to be sued for their actions.

        Stanley Chesley, Cincinnati's lead attorney, disagreed.

        “The bottom line is (gun makers) want to sell guns. As many as they can,” Mr. Chesley said. “That's the problem.”

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