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Watchdog group announces lawsuit against gun industry
Updated: Fri, Jun 30 12:00 PM EDT
By Tom Kim
Daily Illini
U. Illinois
(U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence announced the filing of a lawsuit against the gun industry on behalf of four of the victims of the Benjamin Smith shootings during a press conference Thursday morning.
The Center is representing Steven Kuo, a graduate student at the University of Illinois; Reverend Stephen Anderson; Hillel Goldstein; and an administrator of the estate of Won-Joon Yoon, an Indiana University student who was fatally wounded during Smith's rampage.
Targeted in the lawsuit are Donald Fiessinger, the man identified as selling Smith the guns used in the shootings, and Old Prairie Trading Post, a store that sold over 60 handguns to Fiessinger. Also named in the lawsuit were Sturm-Ruger and Bryco, the manufacturers of the guns Smith used in the shootings. The lawsuit charges the defendants with negligence and causing a public nuisance.
"We're going after the gun dealers and manufacturers," said Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. "It's pretty well-documented that these manufacturers and this gun store shielded their eyes. Manufacturers have the ability to hold their dealers to a certain standard. However, they set standards to maximize profits rather than promote safety."
Smith, a former University of Illinois student, went on a shooting spree targeting minorities a year ago this Fourth of July weekend. Smith killed two people and wounded nine during his three-day rampage.
"This event has galvanized not only the Jewish community, but all of us across the country who are committed to ending violence and preserving our right to live our lives without having to fear the practice of our religion," Steven Baron, a member of the American Jewish Congress, said at the press conference. "Regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, the victims and their families have already achieved a victory by having the courage to file this lawsuit against the people who made the weapons that killed and wounded their loved ones."
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