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Politically, the attraction of the settlement, brokered by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo between Smith & Wesson and several of the cities and states suing the firearms industry, is amply clear. The settlement gives the White House a victory at a moment when Democratic victories are scarce. It draws a hard line between Vice President Al Gore and a GOP presidential candidate who as governor of Texas banned cities from filing liability suits, and it not incidentally raises the political stock of Cuomo, a vice-presidential prospect. Though it was far from a perfect deal, attorneys representing the cities and Handgun Control Inc. (which also signed off on the settlement) must have felt that with a 50 percent chance of a Bush administration in 10 months, and trial outcomes still uncertain at best, this represented the best chance for a short-term victory.

Yet amid the weekend's wild theatrics, little attention was paid to the fine print of the deal. One of those familiar with the details is Elisa Barnes, a New York attorney who won the first -- and so far only -- successful negligence suit against gun manufacturers, in a federal court in Brooklyn last year. She warns that it is nowhere near the "breakthrough in public safety" described by the White House.

"This was a terrible settlement," Barnes says. "It does absolutely nothing. It requires Smith & Wesson to either do what they have already done for years or what they are already required to do by law."

Barnes' blunt criticism puts her in the strange company of the NRA's Wayne LaPierre, who also argues that there is "nothing new" in the Smith & Wesson deal. And it puts her at odds not only with the Clinton administration but with Handgun Control Inc., which represents many of the cities suing the firearms industry. Handgun Control's Denis Henigan calls the deal "an agreement that will save lives."

But Barnes is echoing comments made privately or in more politically cautious tones by many other handgun-control advocates. "I would urge the public to be cautious in viewing today's agreement as a cure-all for this country's need for greater gun control," said Kweisi Mfume of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which refused to sign off on the deal.

Mfume says the White House settlement "lacks teeth with regard to multiple gun sales, which is attributed as a leading source of firearms in the underground market." Josh Horowitz, executive director of the National Center to End Handgun Violence, says the deal "contains too many loopholes," with "no incentives for Smith & Wesson to behave differently."

Looked at closely, this does appear to be a settlement in which symbolism far outweighs substance. It's true that Smith & Wesson broke with firearms-industry tradition by negotiating a separate peace with the Clinton adminstration, infuriating other manufacturers, yet in the end, the company gave up virtually nothing.

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