The DC Snipers' Final Victim: Bushmaster Firearms

[Alaric]

After 27 years of firearms manufacturing in Windham, Maine, Bushmaster Firearms is closing up shop and consolidating it's manufacturing elsewhere. 73 people are losing their jobs. http://www.independentpub.com/story....tId=1292536145

Bushmaster was sold to the Freedom Group recently, the same guys who also now own Remington, Marlin, Parker, Dakota, and others. The sale may have been prompted in part by Bushmaster being forced into a $500,000 out of court settlement with the families of the victims of the "beltway snipers", John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Muhammed, as you may recall, was executed back in 2009. The suit against Bushmaster and co-defendant Bull's Eye Shooters Supply of Tacoma, WA was brought on the victim's families behalf by our dearest old friend, the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

We win some and we lose some. I count this as a loss for gunowners as another trusted independent firearms manufacturer has been forced into consolidation. Worse still, 73 more people are out of work and the Brady's are no doubt emboldened by their win.

[RickyB]

Bushmaster was sued (and lost?) a suit by the victims families? Are you fkm?....

[Alaric]

Bushmaster was sued (and lost?) a suit by the victims families? Are you fkm?....

Bushmaster accepted an out of court settlement with the Brady's lawyers for $2.5 million, $500,000 of which it had to pay with the other company involved (Bull's Eye) paying the remainder. Bushmaster cited mounting legal bills in it's decision to settle.

[RickyB]

I got nothing......

[DannyInSoCal]

So why aren't we suing the Brady Campaign on behalf of the 73 employees...?

[SanPedroShooter]

Why did bull's eye have to pay the remainder? Was the shooter a prohibited person or something?
I also dislike the term "company's involved" if I DUI and kill a family on their way to church, is Toyota an "involved company" How about Budwieser?
I cant belive the bradys could win a suit like this, did the NRA try and help at all? I am going to dig up a link to the story...

[RickyB]

So why aren't we suing the Brady Campaign on behalf of the 73 employees...?

'Cuz they're not public sector employees?.....

[Alaric]

Why did bull's eye have to pay the remainder? Was the shooter a prohibited person or something?
I also dislike the term "company's involved" if I DUI and kill a family on their way to church, is Toyota an "involved company" How about Budwieser?
I cant belive the bradys could win a suit like this, did the NRA try and help at all? I am going to dig up a link to the story...

Here's the story as Wikipedia tells it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltway_sniper_attacks#Regulatory.2C_civil_actions

According to the Seattle Times in a story of April 20, 2003, Muhammad had honed his marksmanship at Bull's Eye's firing range. The newspaper also reported that Malvo told investigators that he shoplifted the 35-inch-long carbine from the "supposedly secure store."[36]
According to U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) officials, the store and its owners had a long history of firearms sales and records violations and a file 283 pages thick. In July 2003, the ATF revoked the federal firearms license of Brian Borgelt, a former Staff Sgt. with the U.S. Army Rangers and owner of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply. Later that month he transferred ownership of the store to a friend and continued to own the building and operate the adjacent shooting gallery.[37]
On January 16, 2003, the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, on behalf of the families of many of the victims of the Beltway sniper attacks who were killed (including Hong Im Ballenger, "Sonny" Buchanan, Jr., Linda Franklin, Conrad Johnson, Sarah Ramos and James L. Premkumar Walekar) as well as two victims who survived the shooting (Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi and 13-year old Iran Brown) filed a civil lawsuit against Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. of Windham, Maine, the gun distributor and manufacturer that made the rifle used in the crime spree, as well as Borgelt, Muhammad and Malvo. Muhammad, who had a criminal record of domestic battery, and Malvo, a minor, were each legally prohibited from purchasing firearms.
The suit claimed that Bull's Eye Shooter Supply ran its gun store in Tacoma, Washington, "in such a grossly negligent manner that scores of its guns routinely "disappeared" from its store and it kept such shoddy records that it could not even account for the Bushmaster rifle used in the sniper shootings when asked by federal agents for records of sale for the weapon." It was alleged that the dealer could not account for hundreds of guns received from manufacturers in the years immediately prior to the Beltway sniper attacks. It was also claimed that Bull's Eye continued to sell guns in the same irresponsible manner even after Muhammad and Malvo were caught and found to have acquired the weapon there. Bushmaster was included in the suit because it allegedly continued to sell guns to Bull's Eye as a dealer despite an awareness of its record-keeping violations.
The case had been set for trial in April 2005. After losing several decisions as the case made its way through the courts, Bull's Eye contributed $2 million and Bushmaster contributed $500,000 to an out-of-court settlement. Bushmaster also agreed to educate its dealers on safer business practices.[38]
After the settlement was announced, WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., reported that Sonia Wills, mother of victim Conrad Johnson, said her family took part in the lawsuit more to send a message than to collect money. "I think a message was delivered that you should be responsible and accountable for the actions of irresponsible people when you make these guns and put them in their hands," she said.[39]

Also, it looks like the ATF pulled the license for Bull's Eye and shut them down.

[SanPedroShooter]

Well if and thats a big IF the wiki info is true. Well then shame on both companies. If we dont watch out for our own, some one's gonna do it for us...

I still dont like the lawsuit, but I am super biased. If it was my family, well, if the gun didnt come from that store or that company, wouldnt it just have come from somewhere else?
I dont really like my own answer...

[glbtrottr]

More reason why I hold the bradybots with such contempt. They're traitors.

[pitchbaby]

So why aren't we suing the Brady Campaign on behalf of the 73 employees...?

^^^^ That would be nice.

[forgiven]

Sarah Brady

[duckman1]

It's not about winning or losing, its about the cost of the trial. No one thinks about the legal costs which can run into the hundreds of thousands very quickly on this type of case. As a defendent even if you win you will not recoupe all of your expenses or time, you just win.

[FS00008]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_in_Arms_Act

That lawsuit should have been thrown out immediately.

[Alaric]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect...ce_in_Arms_Act

That lawsuit should have been thrown out immediately.

Unfortunately the PLCAA wasn't passed until 2005.

The Brady's lawsuit against Bushmaster and Bull's Eye was filed in 2003.