[SmershAgent]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_re_us/gun_lawsuit

Obviously an asinine lawsuit, but what do you expect. Hopefully the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act will rise again soon.

[DMF]

Federal law prohibits stores from selling guns to people who, like Stewart, have a history of serious mental illness.At best this statement is disingenuous and misleading, at worst it's an outright attempt to deceive the reader.

Federal law (18USC922) prohibits people who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution from possessing firearms and ammunition. That is an extremely high threshold to meet, when dealing with mental illness.

In addition there must be mens rae to violate the transfer restrictions of 18USC922. Meaning the person selling (transfering) the gun would have to know the person receiving the weapon is a mental defective, or has been involuntarily committed. The exact language of the statute is, ". . . It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person . . . has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution . . . " emphasis added

Previous case law has determined that voluntary commitment does not make someone a "prohibited person."

Therefore if the people at Wal-Mart could have reasonably known, or believed, that the deceased met that criteria, then they did not violate Federal Law by selling her that shotgun.