Posted on 04/04/2012 9:43:49 AM PDT by aimhigh
A Bush-era federal law that protects gun dealers from being liable for murders committed with guns from their shops is under fire in an Alaska court case that has led the Justice Department and gun-control activists to intervene.
At issue is whether a Juneau gun dealer is liable for letting a disheveled homeless felon leave his store with a rifle he used to murder a total stranger. The family of the murder victim, Anchorage contractor Simone Kim, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that has made it to the Alaska Supreme Court.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldandnews.com ...
Hey, I accidentally hit my finger with a hammer last month and my fingernail fell off. can I sue the hammer manufacturer?
That was ny take as well.
Agreed.
After skimming it, I have to say I'm torn. But, unless I'm missing something, I'm thinking the wrongful-death lawsuit should not have been dismissed.
It appears to me that this particular negligent gun dealer should not be allowed to hide behind the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which was intended to protect careful gun dealers from baseless lawsuits.
The question is whether the dealer is liable for leaving the desk briefly. Probably not, but who knows what the judges will do.
According to the President, the courts do not have the authority to negate laws which are passed by Congress. So this particular law protecting gun store owners must go unchallenged.
Yup.
That’s the word from the ‘constitutional scholar in chief’...
Did the store owner report the theft is the relavant quuestion not asked or answered in the article.
Well, I'm with him on that. I think being 'head butted' by the client should be the standard penalty for ANY attorney who loses a case...
Two possible ways:
(1) Thieves don't usually pay for the merchandise they steal. The perp here left $200 cash-- the price of the gun. A jury might believe that the perp didn't steal the gun at all, but that the sales clerk took the cash and handed over the gun without doing a background check.
(2) Even if the jury believes the "theft" story, it might find that the store was negligent in leaving a gun lying around so that someone could walk out with it.
I’m not sure this case really tests that law, since there are so many other curiousities about the facts.
We lived in Juneau for 25 years, moving south about the time this murder occurred - I know Ray Cox personally and did business with him on several occasions. He’s a decent, friendly old timer (80’s) with a vast knowledge of firearms and history - when finalizing a gun purchase, he shakes your hand. I would hate to see him lose his business over a sneaky shoplifter/killer who shot a stranger in a Fred Meyer parking lot literally across the road from Ray’s gun shop.
Ouch. I've never seen that happen, even in gun shops run by idiots. Even if you are selling lollipops when merchandise is unsecured you need someone present at all times. I shopkeeper I know lost a couple grand worth of model trains when a "friendly" guy came in and asked to see them and then stood at the counter and asked questions and shot the breeze for over an hour. The shopkeeper eventually had a call of nature and stepped out for less than a minute. When he got back, the "customer" and the trains were gone.
Creeps take advantage of the trusting nature of old-timers. Folks like Ray Cox remember a different, better America and are liable to forget that it doesn’t exist anymore and trust the wrong people.
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