Cabela’s Lawsuit To Go Forward After Retailer Sold Ammunition To 19-Year-Old Who Accidentally Shot His Best Friend
The parents of a boy who was accidentally killed by his best friend are suing the retailer that sold the young man the ammunition in the gun. And a recent court ruling from a New York has agreed that the case can move forward, despite claims from Cabela’s lawyers that it should be dismissed.
A Buffalo, New York Columnist, Rod Watson, summarizes the legal problem that the prosecutors will face:
At the same time that gun sales have skyrocketed as more Americans reach for a firearm to protect themselves from threats real and perceived, warning shots abound that should have gun rights advocates on edge.
The latest court ruling allowing a lawsuit against the Cabela’s store in Cheektowaga to proceed after it sold ammunition to then-19-year-old Jake Klocek, who used it in a handgun to accidentally kill 19-year-old Anthony King, a friend he’d invited over while housesitting for an Elma couple.
The suit by the victim’s family contends that Cabela’s – a defendant along with Klocek and the Elma couple – “knew or should have known its failure to use reasonable care” in selling the ammunition to someone like Klocek would result in serious injury or death.
But that claim hinges on the fact that Klocek, under 21 at the time, could not legally buy handgun ammunition.
However, he could legally buy long gun ammunition. And as Cabela’s attorneys point out, the ammunition in question – .45 ACP – can be used in both handguns and rifles. If the clerk asks and the buyer says it’s for a rifle, how is the store supposed to know, short of having a polygraph machine at every register?
Only Universal Gun Registry Will Save Us! NOT.
The case against Cabela’s hinges on the fact that the store employees can not know whether or not the customer in front of them owns a long gun that shoots .45 ACP or not.
Of course, the solution for gun grabbing leftists is obvious. They want to use cases like this to push for a universal gun registry with a searchable database.
That way, when a customer comes to the counter at Cabela’s, the retailer could know whether or not they should sell the ammo to them or not.
Of course, the entire thing is preposterous because criminals –who by definition intend to break the law — aren’t going to follow the laws, no matter how many are piled onto retailers, manufacturers, or gun owners.
Instead, a young man who was traumatized by accidentally shooting his own best friend…now has to go through this circus with the anti-gun lobby.
