If the gun was in working condition & drop safe (the situation itself strongly suggests otherwise, btw
), how could there be a case against the manufacturer? Obviously the defendant was "busy" at the time, and likely has no more interest in either firearms or the legal system at this point, but the point I made about badly made items with potentially lethal causes carrying liability to the manufacturer still stands. Now, if her argument was that a fully functional weapon, functioning as intended, discharged when her son picked up the gun and pulled the trigger --as the Brady's had tried to argue in suits in years past-- you have a steep hill to demonstrate liability. If your gun was manufactured so bad that the first shot sheared out all the safety mechanisms and was then locked into an unsafe state, which directly lead to a fatality, you could
maybe argue the manufacturer bore responsibility beyond the value of the item (simply because the malfunction as described did not harm anyone, but the owner's conduct afterward is what made the situation become fatal)
It seems like the chief point of interest in the case truly is the 'advice from an expert' angle. Which, to be honest, does actually seem like a fairly reasonable argument, to a point. Newbies really
don't know about the particulars of guns, and need guidance to use them safely. Gun store clerks really
do love giving out advice to anyone who will listen, constituted of varying levels of baloney and outright lies. Maybe these clerks should feel some sort of limited pressure to bite their tongues if they are not willing to stand behind their advice.
It seems unlikely the premise of a dealer taking on liability for choosing to sell a price point item he himself would not use/recommend would be something that would stand up well in other cases. Lots of cut-rate garbage is made and sold, with only the buyer taking on risk with their decision. Look at Harbor Freight; their liability ends at exactly the refund value of the item in question.
Also, legalities of bringing a firearm to a liquor store? ...whatever
TCB
PS- I read the article in a severely sleep deprived state yesterday so I did not notice...but good
lord there are a ton of typos in that piece. Seriously. Also, nearly everyone involved in this sounds like they have a made-up name