Gunmaker Sued In IL 4th Of July Parade Mass Shooting

Reuters reports:

The firearms industry knew this was coming: On Wednesday, an unprecedented coalition of big-name law firms, from both the defense and plaintiffs’ bars, teamed up with anti-gun violence nonprofits to accuse Smith & Wesson Brands Inc of responsibility for a mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois, that left seven dead and dozens wounded.

The new lawsuits, filed in state court in Lake County, Illinois, contend that Smith & Wesson deliberately marketed its M&P 15 assault rifle to appeal to violence-prone adolescents like the Highland Park shooter, designing advertisements that falsely linked the M&P 15 to military and police forces and posting marketing videos that intentionally mimicked popular video games like “Call of Duty.”

According to the lawsuits, Smith & Wesson’s targeting of susceptible young men through these militaristic ads and videos is a violation of Illinois’ consumer fraud and deceptive business practices law.

Read the full article.

The same brand gun was used in Parkland.

Highland Park mass shooting victims’ new lawsuits build on Sandy Hook legal theoryhttps://t.co/eU5APKqaXL by @AlisonFrankel pic.twitter.com/X2GgT0wdGM

— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) September 28, 2022