The popular gun manufacturing company Smith & Wesson is facing nearly a dozen lawsuits over a July 4th parade shooting in Illinois, where the perpetrator used one of the company’s guns in the attack.
According to ABC News, 11 different lawsuits were filed on Wednesday by family members of the victims of the shooting in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, claiming with no evidence that the company “illegally” targeted its ads towards young men who are most likely to commit acts of violence.
“The shooter did not act on his own,” said Alla Lefkowitz, a spokeswoman for the far-left anti-gun group Everytown. “What happened in Highland Park on July 4 was the result of deliberate choices made by certain members of the industry.”
The lawsuit represents another example of a dangerous new trend employed by the far-left when it comes to the Second Amendment, deliberately targeting gun companies with multiple simultaneous lawsuits in an effort to force them to pay money to victims and the relatives of victims of mass shootings, even though the companies had no involvement in the crime. A similar strategy was used by dozens of parents of victims in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which ultimately forced gun manufacturer Remington to pay $73 million in settlements over the gunman’s use of one of the company’s firearms in the attack.
The July 4th parade shooting was carried out solely by Robert Crimo III, who confessed to the crime shortly after he was arrested just hours later. He used one Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semiautomatic rifle in the shooting, which killed 7 and injured another 48.
One of the survivors of the shooting, Liz Turnipseed, claims that Smith & Wesson deliberately targets its advertisements to “impulsive young men with hero complexes and/or militaristic delusions.” She provided no evidence to back up her claims.
In addition to the frivolous lawsuits against Smith & Wesson, Crimo himself faces numerous civil suits in addition to criminal charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder (three counts per victim), 48 counts of attempted murder, and 48 counts of aggravated battery. Efforts to have Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., charged over the shooting have failed thus far, as the elder Crimo was not involved.