Corporate Liability = Corporate Accountability

By Thomas Coffin

In 1999, when Eric Holder was serving as Deputy Attorney General under President Clinton, he issued a memorandum on the subject of “Bringing Criminal Charges Against Corporations” which provided guidance for federal prosecutors relevant to charging a corporation with criminal activity. Subsequent federal deputy attorneys general made other changes and the guidance became codified in the Department of Justice’s “Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations.” In 2021, President Biden’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco provided significant updates to the DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement Policies (see Back to the Future, 11/2021.)

Most Americans are probably unaware of these federal charging policies and perhaps even the concept of prosecuting corporations for violating criminal laws. But they exist, and they are a powerful deterrent that should be utilized by our federal government to crack down on the spiraling scourge of mass shootings that plagues our nation.

Unfortunately, however, the Department of Justice is not, to my knowledge, doing so and accordingly is by default sidelining what may be the most effective solution to the gun violence epidemic.

In previous essays, I have exposed a number of the promotional and other strategies the gun industry employs to maximum its profits from supplying the weaponry being commonly used by mass murderers. They include enhancing the lethality of the ammunition by doubling its velocity, silencers (euphemistically described as noise suppressors), armor piercing bullets, light weight JR AR-15s advertised as having the same “punch” as the adult version, a super-urban sniper firearm that will hit the target within an inch of its target, and refusing to keep statistics of the fatalities and human casualties inflicted by its touted enhanced lethality firearms and accessories.

These marketing strategies and willful avoidance of the truth that are easily available to anyone who researches the mass murders across the country is overwhelming evidence of culpability and knowledge within the corporate structures of the manufacturers, sellers, and promoters who profit immensely from their deadly enterprise.

The bottom line is that mass shootings have been good for business within the gun industry, as gun sales continue to break records in their wake, and industry executive have acknowledged that the resulting political dynamics have been “lucrative” (see The Intercept, 12/2/2015.) The industry mantra has been “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Of course, the gun industry supplies both guys with the guns while opposing restrictive state and federal regulations.

Ralph Nader described shoddy autos as “unsafe at any speed.” The same observation is true about shoddy or non-existent regulation of trafficking in, promoting, and selling modern firearms with the capability of inflicting mass casualties on innocent victims. The Department of Justice should and must prioritize policies which protect the people from the egregious harm being inflicted by the arms industry and its practices, including invoking criminal investigations and potential corporate liability.

We need bold leadership, not the linear thinking of unimaginative and hesitant bureaucrats if we are to end this cycle of death for profit capitalism mentality. The policy exists. The gumption to use it is missing.

Note: As I write, on July 9th, 2023, New York City was terrorized by a motorcyclist armed with a military grade firearm with large capacity magazines, randomly shooting pedestrians as he sped through the city.

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Thomas Coffin was the keynote speaker at the Blackberry Pie Society’s Political Party in February, 2020 and at Politics and Pie in October, 2022. He is a retired federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon and a former professor at the UO Law School. Thomas retired in 2016 after 24 years on the bench, prior to which he had a career as a federal prosecutor spanning 21 years. He is married with 7 children.

The Blackberry Pie Society is pleased to include a collection of his essays on our website. We will post them as they become available.

posted 7.21.2023