Court Rejects Suit Against Gun Manufacturer
Appeals court rejects lawsuit against gun manufacturer:
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Jun 1, 2005 — An appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit that the widow of a teacher gunned down by a 13-year-old student had filed against a gun distributor.
Pam Grunow’s lawsuit argued that Valor Corp. was negligent in selling the cheap handgun used in the shooting and should be held liable for the May 2000 death of her husband, Barry Grunow. He was shot in the doorway of his middle school classroom by Nathaniel Brazill, who stole the gun from the man he considered to be a grandfather.
“We certainly sympathize with Grunow and recognize the tragedy of the events that transpired. However, it was Brazill, his grandfather, and perhaps the school that were liable, not Valor,” the opinion said.
Interesting. What could the school have done to prevent this?
Grunow’s attorneys said federal officials had told Valor for years that its .25-caliber Raven handgun was frequently used in crimes and that the company had a legal responsibility to make the weapons safer.
I guess that means they were making assault weapons. Those are the “weapons of choice” for criminals, I’m told.
June 3rd, 2005 at 11:02 am
Oh come on, the gun maker didn’t have to actually bore out the barrel so the bullet could pass though, that alone would have prevented this tragedy. While we are at it, let’s force car makers to not put engines in the cars that will cut down on the number of auto fatalities.
June 3rd, 2005 at 1:56 pm
Not knowing much about the case, I’d guess the school might bear some responsibility for not adequately addressing the shooter’s greivances and/or mental health.
June 4th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Raven made cheap weapons. That’s why they often wound up in the hands of criminals – it’s generally true that crime doesn’t pay.
But of course, cheap weapons even more often wind up in the pockets of honest people who are too poor to move out a bad neighborhood. When gun grabbers go after cheap firearms, what they are trying to do is to prevent these people from protecting themselves.