BELLEVUE, WA – April 2, 2025 – The Second Modification Basis is looking a call by Lake County, In poor health., Choose Jorge L. Ortiz to permit a wrongful demise lawsuit in opposition to Smith & Wesson to proceed “outrageous.”
Seven folks had been killed and dozens extra had been injured when Robert Crimo III opened fireplace at a July 4, 2022 parade in Highland Park. He has pleaded responsible within the case and can doubtless spend the remainder of his life in jail. His father additionally pleaded responsible on seven felony counts of reckless conduct for signing his son’s Illinois Firearm Possession Identification (FOID) card, in response to a report by CBS Information.
“Such authorized actions are exactly why Congress handed the Safety of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) again through the George W. Bush administration,” mentioned SAF founder and Government Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Smith & Wesson isn’t any extra liable for the evil act dedicated by the Highland Park shooter than a automotive producer could be if some drunk behind the wheel smashed into a faculty bus and brought about a deadly crash.”
“Smith & Wesson, like every variety of different producers in different industries, had completely no management over the legal misuse of their product,” mentioned SAF Government Director Adam Kraut. “Permitting these kind of lawsuits to proceed solely invitations additional litigation in opposition to firearms producers to drive them out of enterprise by means of lawfare. Whereas such an finish outcome will be the desired impact by the anti-gun crowd, it could be detrimental to the train of Second Modification rights and likewise nationwide protection.”
Greater than 20 years in the past, a number of cities tried to sue the firearms trade in an effort to carry gun makers and firearms retailers liable for violent crimes dedicated by folks over whom that they had no management. These authorized actions had been dubbed “junk lawsuits” by the trade, and solely succeeded in costing gun corporations thousands and thousands of {dollars} in authorized charges.
“The argument in the present day is basically the identical used virtually 25 years in the past,” Gottlieb recalled. “They’re accusing Smith & Wesson of selling practices aimed toward teenagers and youthful folks, in violation of Illinois client safety legal guidelines, which is nonsense. This authorized motion seems solely designed to price the corporate thousands and thousands of {dollars} in an try to drive it out of enterprise. We’re conscious the plaintiffs have been working with billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Security, which has beforehand supported lawsuits in an try to bankrupt the firearms trade, thus depriving shoppers from buying firearms and exercising their rights beneath the Second Modification.”
