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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWalmart and other retailers face a new front on gun sales: Lawsuits
Lawyers and other experts say retailers face growing legal exposure for gun violence that take place in or around their stores.
After a 2014 mass shooting at Jewish community center in Kansas, the retailer reached settlements with two families who lost loved ones.
Walmart workers are putting heat on the company to stop selling firearms, with some employees saying they feel vulnerable.
Although the recent mass shootings at Walmart stores in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, have renewed calls for retailers to stop selling firearms, some people tragically affected by gun violence are taking matters into their own hands by suing.
"Retail sellers are facing serious issues of liability exposure," said Timothy Lytton, a law professor at Georgia State University and author of a book about litigation against the gun industry. "We're likely to see a stream of lawsuits in the wake of these mass shootings."
This shift in the legal environment around the manufacturing and sale of guns is occurring even as lawmakers and the Trump administration remain paralyzed over gun control. In 2005, Congress passed a bill that protected gun manufacturers and sellers from being held liable for injuries deaths inflicted by their products. Yet there are exceptions in cases where the sale violates state or federal law.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/walmart-and-other-retailers-face-a-new-front-on-gun-sales-lawsuits/ar-AAGelbd?li=BBnbcA1
BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)than go for it! Lawsuits may be the one successful way to limit MF45's crazy actions too. I am not a big fan of law suits but if that's what it takes. I have to remind myself that they finally got Al Capone on his taxes of all things.
Takket
(21,424 posts)what exactly can you sue them for?
Nothing.
sir pball
(4,726 posts)Where two people walk in, one looks at the guns, picks and chooses, and then the other makes the purchase. It IS a pretty big problem and one that isn't prosecuted nearly enough IMO, but Walmart of all places is pretty strict about not letting it happen...not to mention they sell neither assault weapons not handguns. I don't see straw buying a deer rifle being much of a thing.
Straw Man
(6,613 posts)At least here in NY State. They require a manager to review the 4473 after the clerk has completed it. When I bought a CZ .22 rifle from them, they insisted on putting a trigger lock on it in the box, even though the bolt was not installed. And then there's the "walk of shame," when the manager accompanies you to the parking lot, where he finally lets you take possession of your evil gun.
Unless someone actually witnessed the sale and possibly recorded it, I don't see how you could prove a charge of facilitating a straw purchase.
Hangingon
(3,071 posts)There seems to be a disconnect here. Take ElPaso Walmart did not sell the shooter his weapons. Are suggesting they should be targeted for selling guns?