When Aurora, Colorado, assailant James Holmes open fire
on a movie theater in 2012, he brutally murdered 12
people. One of the victims was 24-year-old Jessica Ghawi,
an aspiring sports reporter.
Her parents moved forward with a lawsuit against Lucky
Gunner, the online ammunition store that supplied Holmes
with the ammo he used in the deadly shooting.
The judge dismissed the case on the grounds that online
sellers have special immunity under the Federal Protection
of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, in addition to a similar
Colorado statute.
Now her parents, Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, have taken to
Huffington Post in order to explain why they attempted the
unsuccessful suit.
The grieving parents wrote an opinion piece on the matter,
which HuffPo headlined “We Lost Our Daughter to a Mass
Shooter and Now Owe $203,000 to His Ammo Dealer.”
Here are a few excerpts:
“We brought our lawsuit because we thought it was
outrageous that companies could sell a dangerous
man an arsenal without getting any information
about him, and without making any effort to see if
he was a dangerous killer,” they wrote.
“Which he was.”
“These companies set up their business so people
just like this killer can arm themselves at the click of
a mouse. We wanted to change that.”
They noted that they didn’t seek financial compensation
from the lawsuit:
“We did not seek any money in our case. We just
wanted injunctive relief, to have these companies
act reasonably when they sold dangerous materiel,
like 100-round ammunition magazines, ammunition,
body armor, and tear gas.”
The judge thought the case was so frivolous that he made
the family pay the ammunition store a hefty fee, to the tune
of over $200,000:
“This is an outrageous amount, especially given that
this case was decided after one single motion!”
An additional aspect of the story is that the Brady campaign
may have put the parents up to the case, only to leave
them with the court costs when the “strike suit” didn’t go as
planned.
According to the NRA:
The court was even more direct in an opinion
released last week awarding the defendants defense
costs and attorneys’ fees. “It is apparent that this
case was filed to pursue the political purposes of the
Brady Center,” Judge Matsch stated, “and, given the
failure to present any cognizable legal claim,
bringing these defendants into the Colorado court
where the prosecution of James Holmes was
proceeding appears to be more of an opportunity to
propagandize the public and stigmatize the
defendants than to obtain a court order which
counsel should have known would be outside the
authority of this court.”
When all was said and done, the plaintiffs were
ordered to pay the various defendants a total of
$203,001.86. Just who will ultimately foot the bill is
unknown, but Judge Matsch also noted the close
relationship of the named plaintiffs to the Brady
Campaign itself. Brady, having exploited the
plaintiffs’ tragic circumstances for the group’s own
political agenda, hopefully won’t leave the plaintiffs
on the financial hook as well. Predictably, the fee
award is being appealed.
Lucky Gunner, the ammo shop, has noted that they will
donate this money to guns rights groups. The family claims
they don’t have the money to pay the legal fees.
But even with the threat of financial destitution, the parents
of Jessica Ghawi are still set on changing the gun laws in
this country.
“We are calling on the citizens of this country and
the gun violence prevention community to stand
ready to help us get in the face of state and national
legislators.
Join us in helping to get the word out to the
American citizens who are not aware of how these
laws take away the rights of victims of gun
violence.”
The parents have also started a non-profit organization
called Jessi’s Message.
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