Suicidal IL Woman Buys Ammunition Without FOID Card--Husband Sues

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Man, it's tough workin' retail...




Wife shot herself with Wal-Mart ammunition

By Nishi Gupta
Monday, June 02, 2008


PEORIA -- A Peoria man is taking on Wal-Mart saying the lack of an employee's training led to the death of his wife.

Mark Johnson says his wife Candace bought bullets from the Peoria Wal-Mart on Allen Road in January, then went home and shot herself.

Now, we've learned he's suing the company.

Mark Johnson is a former Marine, and says he had a gun in the house, but no bullets.

Johnson's attorney Ralph Davis says Candace did not have a firearms owners identification or FOID card, and therefore, should not have been sold the ammunition.

The Peoria County State's Attorney's office filed criminal charges against Wal-Mart clerk Christy Blake for selling the ammunition, but later dropped the charges.

We spoke with Blake, who after being suspended, is back to work at Wal-Mart.

She had no comment.

Attorney Ralph Davis says this case goes beyond the clerk and that Wal-Mart should be held responsible.

"She had been a mental patient," said Davis. "In the state of Illinois, they're not allowed to get firearm ammunition or firearms, and that's for the purpose of protecting them and society at large. So that's why the lawsuit is filed. They (Wal-Mart) dropped the ball unfortunately there's a dead person."

HOI 19 News obtained a copy of the police report, where a manager confirms Blake had not received training for ammunition sales, which is store policy.

Wal-Mart has 60 days to file a response to Johnson's lawsuit.

As of Monday afternoon, a call seeking comment from the company was not returned.

The lawsuit seeks damages over $75,000.
http://www.hoinews.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=141648
 
If she was enough of a danger to herself and others, why was she allowed to walk around by herself? The logic of this lawsuit escapes me. I understand the law, but seriously this is too much.
 
Ah, the old "Courtney Love" defense.

Spouse is suicidal, left all alone with guns in house. Imagine their surprise when they get home and their spouse has painted the bathroom with their own brains!
 
Huh, what? Is this America?

Oh no they need special government licenses to purchase ammo in that place, so I know it is a story about another foriegn nation.

Sounds like something you expect on the BBC.
 
I didn't know you had to have a license for ammo anywhere, either. I had no idea how restrictive some states' gun laws were before I started reading posts here. It is kind of disorienting sometimes.
 
I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. I think we can all agree the requirement to have a license to purchase ammo is insane. Maybe a multi-million dollar judgment against WalMart would draw attention to how silly the law really is. In a state where licenses aren't required, WalMart would have a slam dunk dismissal.

Perhaps WalMart would challenge the constitutionality of the law.

Unfortunately, I suspect WalMart will lose or settle and will re-evaluate ammunition sales... and the stupid law will go unchallenged.

Someone bent on suicide has many options, guns included. Off the top of my head... hanging, poison, sleeping pills, knives, motor vehicles (tree or tailpipe)... If his loony wife wanted to whack herself, lack of ammunition wouldn't be much of a problem.
 
I didn't know you had to have a license for ammo anywhere, either. I had no idea how restrictive some states' gun laws were before I started reading posts here. It is kind of disorienting sometimes.
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Oh I knew, I was just injecting some grounded perspective into the issue. MA and NJ are not much better.

When people forget they are Americans and such things are allowed these types of situations are one of the results.
 
Hmm Your wife is sucidal, and you keep a gun in the house? ARE YOU FREAKING STUPID?!?!?!?!
 
Is it legal for a person, who shares a place of residence with a mentally ill person, to possess a firearm? I checked the Illinois State Police website, but could not find an answer.
 
Great, just freaking great. Because this guy couldn't lock up his guns, I'm not going to be able to buy ammo at Wal-mart. We need more stores to carry firearms and ammo, not fewer....

IDIOT.
 
Now guys we have to be kinder & gentler we can't call a whack-job a whack-job she's a mentally distressed person.

Small prediction if this guy wins the lawsuit WM will quit selling ammunition AND the antis will try suits like this all over the country.

I also have wonder if this guy thinks WM is really responsible for his nut job of a wife's suicide why is he only suing for 75k?
 
Treo I also have wonder if this guy thinks WM is really responsible for his nut job of a wife's suicide why is he only suing for 75k?
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That was one of my first thoughts too.

I wonder if the clerk had had her "ammunition sales training", if the focus of the blame would remain on her. Of course, SHE'S not being sued, because she ain't got the 75 Large to pay.

In a perfect world, a judge would dismiss this case with the utmost, extreme prejudice.

In a near-perfect world Wal-Mart would fight this to the very end.

In the real world, it will be much cheaper for Wal-mart to just pay the $75K and be done with this.

Sam
 
Treo I also have wonder if this guy thinks WM is really responsible for his nut job of a wife's suicide why is he only suing for 75k?
Click to expand...

Probably because he figures that if he sues for too much, Wal-Mart will probably fight, win, and he won't see a dime. For $75k, WM is more likely to settle out of court to avoid the legal expenses, and then we'll have a precedence for the future :fire: .

So here's for hoping that WM fights it, but for such a small $$$, I fear they'll roll over and play dead.
 
yeah, because we know that using a gun is the only way to commit suicide...and because Wal-mart sold the ammo they're responsible...:rolleyes:
 
If she was a danger why was she allowed access to the gun - or steak knives or rope for that matter.

If she was motivated enough to GO BUY AMMO, doesn't he think she would have come up with some other way to kill herself.

Walmart cannot possibly be responsible in ANY WAY for this tragedy. He's just digging for either 1) someone else to blame or 2) easy deep pocket money.

I'm ashamed this man was once in the US military. Doesn't he know that this lawsuit will further fuel the anti-2nd Amendment fires which errode the US Constitution he pledged to protect?
 
I think the larger issue from the improper ammunition sale, is why did this genious leave a unsecured firearm in easy access of a mental patient?

Would he sue Chicago Cutlery if he left knives out for his derranged wife and she killed herself with them?

I could be wrong, but IMHO, I think a jury would find he shared responsibility for her demise.
 
Just playing devil's advocate here...

Substitute the unbalanced woman with a high school senior, and the ammo with a 12-pack of Bud. The teen gets killed driving drunk, and parents sue WallyWorld for not checking the kid's ID.

The kid didn't try to kill himself, while the woman obviously did. Isn't there some culpability on the part of the seller for not doing an ID check?
 
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