Gun maker Smith & Wesson’s marketing practices were designed to generate sales from people like the gunman who opened fire at the Highland Park parade on July 4, according to one of several new lawsuits filed Wednesday by victims of massacres and families grieving loved ones who were shot. in the tragedy
The lawsuits focus largely on Smith & Wesson, but also include the accused gunman, his father and the gun store that sold the gun identified by authorities in the shooting.
A central claim of the legal action is that the gunmaker behind the M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle illegally targeted young people at risk of violence with firearms ads.
The July 4th shooting at a parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park left seven people dead and nearly 40 others injured. Everytown Law, the law firm Romanucci & Blandin, LLC and Brady, along with other firms, announced the lawsuits at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“It just didn’t have to happen,” Romanucci & Blandin’s Antonio Romanucci said at a news conference Wednesday. “(Smith & Wesson’s) marketing of the M&P 15 was unfair and deceptive because they knew these marketing and sales practices promote and sell an image that caters to and appeals to people like the shooter.”
Liz Turnipseed, who was shot in the pelvis during the shooting, is the lead plaintiff suing the manufacturer. His lawsuit claims the company should have been aware that its ads would appeal to “impulsive young men with hero complexes and/or militaristic delusions drawn to use the particularly high lethality of AR-15-style weapons. .. to execute their fantasies effectively.” the lawyers argue.
The lawsuit alleges that Smith & Wesson’s ads mimic a first-person shooter perspective depicted in many popular video games, use images of apparent military or law enforcement personnel, and emphasize the gun’s combat features.
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“The advertisements and marketing tactics described above demonstrate that Smith & Wesson knowingly marketed, advertised, and promoted the rifle to civilians for unlawful purposes, including conducting military-style offensive combat missions against their perceived enemies” , their lawyers argue.
Lauren Bennett, who attended the parade with her husband and children aged six and nine, was shot twice in the hip and back at the parade.
“My family and I demand full accountability for all those who contributed to the fear, physical and emotional pain and unthinkable nightmares that now define our lives,” Bennett said Wednesday.
Lawsuits against gun manufacturers related to mass shootings have faced a host of legal roadblocks because of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005, which grants gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits related to crimes committed with their products.
But the lawsuits targeting Smith & Wesson follow a similar approach to the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School killings, who received a $73 million settlement from firearms company Remington who manufactured the rifle used in the shooting. probably the largest settlement of its kind for a mass shooting.
The families of the Sandy Hook victims claimed that Remington violated Connecticut’s consumer protection law by marketing its guns to young men at an existing risk of committing violence. An attorney at the Sandy Hook settlement center issued a letter in June to the maker of the AR-15 used in the mass shooting at Uvalde Elementary School on behalf of the father of one of the victims, seeking answers about marketing their products to teenagers and young adults. children
In addition to Smith & Wesson, the gunman and his father, the victims are also suing Red Dot Arms, the gun store where the accused gunman bought the gun, and Bud’s Gun Shop, a gun dealer in line
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Prosecutors have said Robert E. Crimo III, 21, confessed to the shooting when police arrested him, and he currently faces 21 counts of first-degree murder, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 of aggravated aggravation. Crimo III and his father Robert Crimo Jr., who sponsored his son’s application for a state firearms license in 2019 when he was under 21, are also named in the lawsuit.
Despite multiple warning signs before the shooting, including two police visits in 2019 and videos posted by the gunman of guns, school shootings and nihilistic themes about suicide and death, Crimo was able to legally purchase at least five guns, including the Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle that he is accused of using in the attack.
Contributor: The Associated Press
