Multi-Million Dollar Settlement Reached Over Negligent Gun Sales

By Tom Knighton

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Federal law protects gun manufacturers and gun stores from being sued because a gun they sold lawfully, and in good faith, is used in a crime. It’s something some judges would do well to remember.

However, they can be sued legally under specific circumstances. In particular, when there’s negligence somewhere along the line. That’s what happened regarding one pawn shop.

The families of several people who were killed or wounded in a 2016 mass shooting near Wichita, Kansas, have reached a multimillion-dollar settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the pawn store that sold some of the guns used in the attack.

The lawsuit alleged that local retailer A Pawn Shop sold the guns to a woman as part of a straw purchase, which occurs when one person buys a gun on behalf of someone else, circumventing background checks and federal law.

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Gun makers and retailers typically can’t be sued when crimes are committed with weapons they produce thanks to a 2005 federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which shields them from civil liability.

Gun stores and pawn shops can be sued for negligence, however, if they …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms