October 12, 2018
- First case to succeed against online gun dealer, anti-gun-violence advocate says
- Industry changes, legislative efforts may follow
An online gun dealer and an Oregon pawn shop will change their business practices and pay $750,000 to the family of a woman killed in a shooting, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and other attorneys for the family said.
“This is the first case that we’re aware of that was successful against an online gun dealer,” Jonathan Lowy, vice president of litigation at the Brady Center and co-counsel in the case, told Bloomberg Law.
The settlement could provide a guidepost for voluntary changes by online gun dealers and for state legislative efforts, Lowy said, noting that Internet commerce is getting bigger in the gun market and is “a huge problem.”
The case established a gun seller’s potential liability even when the shooter fired a different weapon from the one the company sold, according to the Brady Center and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, which also represented the family.
Read Settlement Could Prompt Changes in Online Gun Sales, Group Says.