Families of Sniper Shooting Victims To Sue Rifle Maker

WJLA Channel 7 News (Washington, D.C.) on My Yahoo ^ | 01-16-2003 | WJLA News 7

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Families of Sniper Shooting Victims To Sue Rifle Maker

Thu Jan 16, 8:13 AM

() - The families of two sniper shooting victims will file a lawsuit Thursday against the maker of the rifle used in the attacks, and the shop where the gun was sold or stolen.

The suit is brought on by the families of James "Sonny" Buchanan and Conrad Johnson.

It alleges that Bushmaster firearms and Bull's Eye Shooter Supply of Tacoma, Washington, showed "gross negligence" that "caused injuries and death."

The owners of the store, Brian Borgelt and Charles Carr and sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo are also named as defendants.

The families are seeking unspecified damages.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is representing the families, who are seeking unspecified damages.

Bushmaster officials say they did nothing wrong by selling the gun.

The owners of the gun shop did not comment.

The families of two sniper shooting victims will file a lawsuit Thursday against the maker of the rifle used in the attacks, and the shop where the gun was sold or stolen.

The suit is brought on by the families of James "Sonny" Buchanan and Conrad Johnson.

© Copyright 2003 WJLA-TV

[jim_trent]

From what I read (no guarantee of accuracy), the gun was on display in the gunshop, loaded with optional equipment. When it "disappeared", they did not notify the police. I do believe that that makes them liable. Of course, there is still some question if the gun was sold "off the books". If that is proved, monetary damages will be the least of the gunshop owners worries.

[TigersEye]

To attempt to profit from the death of your loved ones is to p*ss on ther graves in every sense of the word.

This is exactly what I was thinking so I reposted it a little bolder. What utter contempt and disrespect for ones own blood. The death of their loved ones means nothing more to them than having spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee in their lap. Disgusting.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

The Clintons will be so proud.

[oyez]

I'll buy a Bushmaster

Good investment and a good value.

[aruanan]

Weren't they doing the shooting from a Caprice? And didn't the county and states facilitate the murders by providing and maintaining the roads?

[PoorMuttly]

Insensitive as it may sound...they'd be well-advised to buy such rifles themselves...considering how well it worked, and the kind of vermin running around these days.

[oyez]

If a car is used to kill somebody, can the victims' families sue General Motors,etc???

Not yet, but you can bet SUV makers are on the list.

[gieriscm]

The crooks in Tacoma were selling weapons under the counter without proper paper work and deserve to get sued.

I agree if the FFL knew about. Since most FFL's know the penalties (very, very harsh) for breaking Federal firearm laws, I'd bet it was an employee who was swiping stuff from the shop and selling it on the street. It wouldn't be the first time.

If Bushmaster had any inkling of what was going on then they also deserve to be sued.

FFL's typically don't buy firearms directly from manufacturers. They make their purchases from distributors. So, there are at least two degrees of separation (maybe more since distributor to distributor sales also occur) between Bushmaster and the sniper suspects.

I know Brady Campaign had to convince these victims' families to get involved in the lawsuits. Part of it is to cost Bushmaster (and ultimately, people who purchase them in the future) more money, and the other factor is that they want to use this incident as fodder next year when the AW ban sunsets on September 13, 2004.

[TigersEye]

The Clintons will be so proud.

I guess that's about right. They'd sell Chelsea for one good Chinese contribution.

[TigersEye]

It seems that every liberal's funeral is Partytime for Power!

[PatrioticAmerican]

I guess Bushmaster should sue the families for being victims and making their product look bad.

While we're at it, let's have Kimber, Beretta, Smith, Glock, et al, also sue the families for not being armed and becoming victims and making their products look bad, too.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"I think I'll buy a Bushmaster shortly just to support them."

The wif' just bought me another one for Christmas. I think she loves me.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

This is one of the ways I fear that the gun producers are going to be put out of business. Just file hundreds of lawsuits against them and they will become bankrupt. I hope all these lawsuits fail. Gun haters will go to any length to get our rifles and pistols.

[Eaker]

The problems in the gun store should be addressed as if these two wacky muslim murderers had never started their crime spree. This should be handled in the same way that any other inspection that caught problems would be handled.

The two things are not related in any way.

Stay safe; stay armed.
Eaker Freeper Status

[Liberty Ship]

"If blame is to be assigned in this manner, I would emphatically state that the #1 party to be sued here would be the US Government. They taught Malvo all about firearms, taught him how to shoot them to kill people in the most efficient way possible, taught him tactics, and even paid him to learn these skills."

AND the government was involved in the design, development, deployment, and promotion of both the M-16 and .223 class ammo! Sue Robert McNamara!!!

[buffyt]

Sue God for creating the universe.

[foxylady]

MO was under a restraining order, Malvo was a minor. Neither was able to buy from an FFL dealer...if this guy did a private sale, fine. Dumb, but fine.

An FFL can't do a "private sale" out of business inventory, which is what this gun was in. If he moved the gun into his personal collection and then did a private deal, it would still be suspicious, but he'd at least have to have recordkeeping that that's what he did. When the feds show up asking about this gun, this idiot just said I don't know what happened to that gun.

[foxylady]

Question: There were some early reports that the gunshop that received the gun had something like 150 guns unaccounted for, including this one. I later heard it was considerably less, but still a lot. Nothing since then.

How did the gun get from the gunshop into the snipers hands? It seems like that would be reasonably easy to determine. How many people had access to the gun? Counldn't have been too many. Does anyone have any updates on this?

It was about 200 missing. They don't know how it got into the snipers hands - but I suppose the possibilities are that they stole it from the store, without the store noticing it was gone, or somebody at the store sold it to them. But what makes you think that would be "reasonably easy" to determine? The only ones who would know are the snipers and (perhaps) one or more people working at the store who gave them the gun under the table. The killers ain't talking, and I don't suppose the folks at the store have much incentive to incriminate themselves either.

[Nebr FAL owner]

No but I have hugged my Stg58,ak 47 & cleaned the Colt Commander loaded with Hydrashoks 8^>

[SLB]

I hate it when those evil guns jump off the shelf and start shooting someone. I keep mine chained down to prevent that from happening. I thought about putting a piano on them just to make certain they cannot ever get out on their own.