NBC Nightly News open - 1999-05-25

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Only on Channel 4.

[0:02] >> Gun makers under fire. A wave of school

[0:05] shootings and violence. And now,

[0:06] American cities take gun makers to

[0:08] court. Is public opinion turning?

[0:12] Fallout from that scathing new report

[0:14] about Chinese espionage stealing

[0:17] America's nuclear secrets.

[0:19] In depth tonight, what the experts know

[0:21] about those killer tornadoes could save

[0:23] your life. And an astonishing story of

[0:26] survival.

[0:28] Plus, the family, a new national

[0:30] pastime, exploring your roots. Now, a

[0:33] new easy way to find out where you came

[0:35] from.

[0:39] >> From NBC News World Headquarters in New

[0:42] York, this is NBC Nightly News with Tom

[0:45] Bro.

[0:47] Good evening. There's something

[0:49] happening here. In the spring of 1999,

[0:52] after the massacre at Coline High, the

[0:54] political climate for gun control in

[0:56] this country suddenly changed. Those who

[0:59] fought any change in the past are now

[1:01] saying it's time to do something. Even

[1:03] gun manufacturers are in on the changed

[1:06] attitudes, worried that if they aren't,

[1:08] they'll go the way of big tobacco and

[1:10] lose billions in lawsuits. More of those

[1:13] lawsuits did come today in Los Angeles

[1:14] and San Francisco. So tonight we begin

[1:17] with two reports on the legal challenges

[1:20] and the new political attitudes. First,

[1:23] NBC's Pete Williams.

[1:26] In Los Angeles, where police report

[1:28] 13,000 gun crimes a year, city officials

[1:30] think the streets would be safer if guns

[1:33] themselves were made more safely and

[1:35] sold more carefully. LA today becomes

[1:38] the biggest city to sue the nation's gun

[1:40] industry, joined by San Francisco and

[1:43] four other cities. We want the gun

[1:45] industry to know that California is

[1:46] united. We are united in trying to stop

[1:50] this plague of gun violence in this

[1:53] country. Today's lawsuits say gun makers

[1:55] are legally at fault because they don't

[1:58] properly track how guns are sold,

[2:00] failing to stop some gun stores from

[2:02] selling to illegal gun traffickers. And

[2:05] they say many gun makers refuse to build

[2:07] in locks that would make it harder for

[2:09] criminals to fire stolen guns. Today's

[2:12] lawsuits bring to 14 the number of

[2:14] cities suing the gun industry. Four

[2:16] counties have filed similar lawsuits of

[2:18] their own. The nation's leading gun

[2:20] control group says timing is everything

[2:22] and the public wants the industry held

[2:24] more accountable.

[2:25] >> I think they're feeling enormous

[2:27] pressure, enormous pressure to uh

[2:31] re-examine every aspect of the way they

[2:33] do business from the way they design

[2:35] their guns to the way they promote their

[2:38] guns. The city say they're not really

[2:40] after the money. They want to change the

[2:42] way gun manufacturers design and sell

[2:44] their products. But the industry claims

[2:46] all the lawsuits will only make guns

[2:48] more expensive.

[2:49] >> It's going to cost more money to defend.

[2:51] It's going to cost, you know, thousands

[2:53] and thousands of dollars, not only to

[2:55] the industry, but also the city's

[2:58] taxpayers. And uh the sad fact is is not

[3:01] one life is going to be saved.

[3:02] >> And the city lawyers admit these

[3:04] lawsuits are a long shot. that the gun

[3:06] industry almost never loses in court

[3:08] over how guns are designed or sold. But

[3:12] that isn't stopping cities across the

[3:13] country and the people who make guns are

[3:15] finding that for now they're easy

[3:17] targets. Pete Williams, NBC News,

[3:20] Washington.

[3:23] This is Lisa Myers in Washington,

[3:26] one of eight cities in which the bell

[3:28] toll today for victims of gun violence.

[3:31] As their families form a new grassroots

[3:34] movement to make guns harder to get,

[3:36] Steven Young says his son Andrew was

[3:39] murdered three years ago by two kids

[3:41] with a gun.

[3:42] >> I've sensed this this rising movement of

[3:45] the people that they've just had it with

[3:46] the gun industry and they've had it with

[3:48] our government's lax attitude towards

[3:49] it. Coline apparently was the last

[3:51] straw.

[3:52] >> Since the massacre at Coline High

[3:54] School, the gun control debate has

[3:56] shifted dramatically and become almost

[3:58] impossible to escape. A usually friendly

[4:00] talk show host takes on a supporter of

[4:03] the gun lobby.

[4:04] >> I don't think it's in the Constitution

[4:05] to have assault weapons in the year

[4:07] 2000.

[4:08] >> I didn't come on your show to to have a

[4:10] debate. I came on your show to plug a

[4:12] movie. Even some gun owners