[Steve in PA]

Just caught this on my local news here in NEPA (WBRE-TV), no link yet but it seems a gun dealer (Sauers??) legally sold some handguns to another individual. This second individual then illegally sold the handguns on the streets of Philadelphia for twice there cost.

Apparently one of these handguns was used in the killing of a woman's child (I didn't catch the age). Well, this woman filed a wrongful death suit against the gun dealer and I think they said she won!!!!! Unbelievable

As soon as I find a link or more info I'll post it. The local news station said they tried to contact the owner of Sauer's who would not comment. I would think that they would have had to prove that even though the guns were purchased legally, the gun dealer had to know what the middle guy was doing.

[critter]

Why are people SO DUMB that they blame everybody and everything EXCEPT the perp actually responsible??!!

Heard on TV of a shooting near here where a drive-by-shooter wounded 4 people, none of which was the guy he was shooting at. One relative of one of the victims was railing at the potential TARGET because when the shooting started, he ran toward where some people were standing in order to try to get away.

Incredible!

[dinosaur]

Steve, glad you posted this. Did you watch the 5 p.m. or the 6 p.m? The 6 p.m. said he settled for $850,000. Hope someone has the real story.

[Steve in PA]

I caught the 6pm broadcast. I thought I heard an amount ($850,000) mentioned, but I wasn't sure.

So, what next......are they going to go after the used car salesman, who sold a car to a guy who got into a DUI and killed someone?

[Dbl0Kevin]

Why are people SO DUMB that they blame everybody and everything EXCEPT the perp actually responsible??!!

They're not dumb......they're greedy. They know that they can possibly cash in on a lawsuit and don't give a darn about what the precedent might be afterwards as long as they get their money. :scrutiny:

[WT]

A couple of NJ cops sued a gun store in Charleston, WV because of a straw purchase. The gun store sold guns that were used against these 2 cops. Both cops were permanently disabled. They won.

[K-Romulus]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9477679.htm

Posted on Tue, Aug. 24, 2004

Dealer settles suit over gunplay

He had sold a revolver to a "straw buyer," who sold it on the street. A 7-year-old boy was killed.

By L. Stuart Ditzen
Inquirer Staff Writer


In a case with potentially broad implications for the firearms industry, a Pennsylvania gun dealer has agreed to pay $850,000 to a Philadelphia woman whose son was killed with a handgun the dealer sold to an illegal "straw buyer" in 1997.

Though the dealer, Jon K. Sauers, owner of Sauers Trading in South Williamsport, sold the gun legally, the purchaser, Perry J. Bruce of Williamsport, had repeatedly bought small handguns from him and resold them on the street.

On April 19, 1999, one of the guns Bruce bought from Sauers was found under a parked car in South Philadelphia by a group of children. One child playfully pointed the small Rossi revolver at 7-year-old Nafis Jefferson and pulled the trigger, firing a .44-caliber bullet into Jefferson's head.

The victim's mother, Tennille Jefferson, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit - believed to be the first of its kind in Pennsylvania - seeking to hold Sauers responsible for her son's death.

The suit was scheduled to go to trial last month, but shortly before trial Sauers agreed to settle the case with a payment of $850,000. The settlement became public on Friday when it was approved by Orphans' Court Judge Joseph D. O'Keefe.

Dennis Henigan, legal director for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which participated in the case, said the settlement was the first of its kind in Pennsylvania and has nationwide implications for gun-shop owners who sell to straw buyers.

"There is a risk of liability that is now real for gun sellers all across the country," Henigan said.

A straw purchase is one in which a person without a criminal record buys a gun legally and then resells it on the street - usually to someone with a criminal record.

Henigan said the settlement reflects a recognition - at least by one gun dealer - that selling a gun to a straw buyer "creates the risk that an innocent person could be shot," even in an accidental setting.

"These kinds of transactions occur every day in gun shops in every state in the country," Henigan added.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Sauers said: "I don't believe I want to say anything at all."

His lawyer, Joseph F. Van Horn Jr., declined to comment.

Mark J. LeWinter, lawyer for Tennille Jefferson, said he hoped the settlement would discourage other gun dealers from "turning a blind eye" to straw buyers.

"They just pretend it's not happening when they know better," LeWinter said. "Hopefully, lawsuits like this will have a deterrent effect."

The Brady Center has filed several such suits against gun dealers.

Federal law-enforcement authorities estimate that straw purchases at gun shops account for nearly one-third of the illegal guns recovered from crimes in America.

But only about 1 percent of the nation's 104,000 licensed gun shops are estimated to be responsible for most of those sales.

Records in the Jefferson case show that Sauers sold 10 small handguns between 1994 and 1997 to Bruce, who was unemployed and a self-described drug user. But he had no record and could pass a background check enabling him to buy guns. He paid Sauers $200 cash for each gun, and then he resold each on the street for $400.

In 1998, Bruce pleaded guilty to federal gun-trafficking charges. Sauers was investigated, but no charges were filed against him.

Sauers testified in a deposition in the Jefferson case that he complied with state and federal law, properly filling out all forms in each sale to Bruce.

But he never asked Bruce why he was buying all the guns.

Asked why he never questioned Bruce, Sauers replied in the deposition: "I don't know what my reason would be to ask him. I didn't think it was any of my business."

Police believe the gun that killed Nafis Jefferson made its way into the hands of a drug dealer in South Philadelphia who stashed it under a car on Sigel Street, where the children found it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer L. Stuart Ditzen at 215-854-2431 or sditzen@phillynews.com

[jefnvk]

In 1998, Bruce pleaded guilty to federal gun-trafficking charges.

How in heck was he able to legally buy guns after a firearms trafficking conviction?

Also note that he settled, the court didn't decide on this.

[Leatherneck]

whose son was killed with a handgun the dealer sold to an illegal "straw buyer" in 1997. The bust happened in 1998, in connection with the story gun.

TC
TFL Survivor

[Andrew Rothman]

Records in the Jefferson case show that Sauers sold 10 small handguns between 1994 and 1997 to Bruce...

I bet a lot of people here have purchased that many guns in four years.

...who was unemployed and a self-described drug user.

How would the dealer know that?

But [Bruce] had no record and could pass a background check enabling him to buy guns.

So the gun dealer fully complied with the letter and the spirit of the law?

[Bruce] paid Sauers $200 cash for each gun and then he resold each on the street for $400.

Sounds like Bruce is the criminal.

I understand that the gun dealer had to limit his potential losses, but it's settlements like this that keep the lawyers suing.

[Dead]

Thats it I am giong to have to file a lawsuit against the car manufacturer, the insurance company, car dealership, the sales man, and any garage that has done work on the car that rear ended me. They all had a role in the accident, and MUST PAY me for my injuries, and damage to my car!


The above is the logic used in so called "GUN" lawsuits... We should apply it to cars as well... Should beable to use gun lawsuits as a precidence, I mean they are both products that are legally sold, and when misused can kill and injury. The only difference is there is no background check for the urban assault SUVs out there.