Swarna Shukla –
Published On: December 04, 2021 at 20:45 IST
With reference to a Case filed by the parents of a woman who was killed in the mass shooting that occurred in 2017 in the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada’s Supreme Court ruled that the gun manufacturers could not be held responsible for the death as a state law shields them. It further stated that they would have been liable had there been a malfunction in the weapon.
The parents of Carrie Parson, who was one among the 60 people killed, had filed a Suit of wrongful death against Colt Manufacturing and several other weapons makers in July 2019.
Stephen Paddock used an AR15 with a bumper when he fired 1,049 rounds at a crowd of 22,000 in a suite at the Casino Resort Tower before killing himself. Fifty-eight people died on the spot or in hospitals, many were injured and two people succumbed to their injuries years after the incident.
Justice Kristina Pickering stated, “We hold that (State Law) provides the gun companies immunity from the wrongful death and negligence per se claims asserted against them under Nevada law in this case.”
In a lawsuit filed by Seattle-based parents James and Anne-Marie Parsons alleged that the manufacturers had not shown care towards public safety as they had advertised the firearms as military weapons indicating that it could be easily modified. They also alleged that there were a number of online videos showing people how to install bump stock.
Further the lawsuit also contained, “It was only a question of when — not if — a gunman would take advantage of the ease of modifying AR-15s to fire automatically in order to substantially increase the body count.”
The Court also stated that if any civil liability arises against firearm manufacturers and distributors, the decision is of legislature to decide if the civil liability was to be imposed or not.