Gun Manufacturers Sued Over Las Vegas Mass Shooting

The parents of a woman killed in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the manufacturers of the AR-15 style rifles used by the gunman.

The complaint, filed in state court in Nevada Tuesday, alleges that the makers of the 12 different semiautomatic rifles used in the mass shooting knew they could be easily modified to fire like fully automatic machine guns. The manufacturing and sale of new fully automatic weapons is prohibited under federal law.

The gunman, Stephen Paddock, equipped semiautomatics he bought from the companies with rapid-fire devices called “bump stocks,” killing 58 and injuring hundreds more in the deadliest mass shooting in modern history.

“The scope of this crime, to kill 58 people and to injure more than 400 more in just a few minutes, you need an easily modifiable AR-15,” said Katie Mesner-Hage, a lawyer for the family. “The manufacturers enabled that crime.”

Colt’s Manufacturing LLC and FN America LLC are among the defendants. A representative for FN America declined to comment. Representatives for defendants including Colt’s Manufacturing didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment or couldn’t be reached.

Lawrence Keane, general counsel and senior vice president for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, said that the claims in the lawsuit are barred by a 2005 federal law that grants the gun industry immunity from liability claims over gun violence.

“It is wrong to blame the manufacturers of legal, non-defective products lawfully sold for the actions of a madman,” said Mr. Keane. “Doing so would be like attempting to hold Ford responsible for a deranged criminal who affixes aftermarket parts to a Mustang and then misused that car to attack a group of pedestrians.”

Ms. Mesner-Hage and other attorneys for the parents of Carrie Parsons, who was killed at the age of 31, said they hope to advance the case under an exception to the federal immunity law that says manufacturers may be liable for injuries resulting from violations of state laws dealing with the marketing and sale of their products.

The same attorneys recently won a favorable ruling in a similar case when the Connecticut Supreme Court said that an AR-15 maker could be held legally responsible for marketing practices that allegedly made the semiautomatic gun the weapon of choice for mass shooters. That court overturned the dismissal of a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by families of victims killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

After the Las Vegas shooting, the Trump administration banned rapid-fire bump stock devices. The ban went into effect earlier this year.