As a result, the plaintiffs contend, the companies are collectively liable, even if it cannot be proved which company's gun was used in a particular shooting.

The jury in the lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, had found in February that the gun makers were collectively liable for the shooting, even though the gun used in the shooting was never identified.

In a Brooklyn courtroom, lawyers are arguing a case that could set a precedent on a fundamental national question: Should the American gun industry be held collectively liable for the blood spilled with illegally obtained handguns?

They maintain that this "negligent distribution" makes the companies collectively liable for the shootings in the case - even if it cannot be proven which company's gun was used in a given shooting - an argument that legal experts term novel in gun litigation.

"This is the first case that I'm aware of where someone has tried to hold the industry collectively liable," said Dennis Henigan of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, an advocacy group in Washington.

The court held all those present at the operation collectively liable, though presumably only one had caused the injury.

The suit, on behalf of relatives of six homicide victims and a seventh person who survived a shooting, charged that all the companies engaged in negligent marketing and distribution that made them collectively liable for the seven shootings.

However, he or she may also render all the partners collectively liable.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of seven gunshot victims seeks to hold more than 40 gun makers and wholesalers collectively liable for seven shootings that were committed with illegally obtained handguns in New York City and Yonkers in recent years.

Then comes the responsibility of the European Commissioners, who failed to do their duty, thus making the last two Commissions collectively liable.