Breitbart – by AWR HawkinsA Fulton County, Georgia, jury has awarded $6 million to a mother whose 14-year-old son was accidentally shot and killed when the boy’s sister dropped a pistol on the dining room table.
The pistol belonged to the mother, Linda Bullard, who had purchased it from Shurlington Jewelry and Pawn 14 years ago.
The $6 million judgement is against the pawn store’s owner, Ronald Richardson.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Richardson was “a family friend” whom Bullard trusted “to steer her in the right direction” when she purchased her first gun for home defense. He sold her a Bryco/Jennings that he had “in bulk” and could sell cheaply.
After buying the gun Bullard had trouble with a jam and returned it to Richardson to have it cleared. At the time he couldn’t clear it — which meant the live round remained — so he told Bullard to come back on Monday because his “gun guy” would be able to clear it. In the interim, he returned the pistol to Bullard “in a zipped case.”
Later that same day Bullard’s 21-year-old daughter “dropped the gun as she was putting her purse and other items on the dining room table.” The live round discharged and hit her 14-year-old brother in the stomach, killing him.
The jury deliberated seven hours and decided “that Richardson owed Bullard $6 million.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
The Bryco/Jennings pistol is a piece of crap that should never have been allowed on the store shelves in this country and imho the gun should never have been returned to this woman with a live round jammed in it. Obviously this store owner lacked good judgement as a family friend and as a responsible gun dealer. The woman being a mother of at least two children should also (IMHO) have had better since than to have returned home with a jammed gun. 6 million may be a bit drastic but then who can put a value on a human life.
Agreed, 100%, and yes… the idiot returned with a jammed gun and allowed her kids to access the thing, too. She probably assumed that since it “didn’t work”, the kids couldn’t hurt themselves with it.
Now.. I think it’s good that for kids to learn how to shoot, but here we seem to be talking about a family with little firearm experience, and a mom who just bought a gun in response to recent events. If I’m right, the seller should have taken a few minutes to relay some safety tips, or at least tell her that the live round stuck in the chamber was still dangerous (or as you said, not even return it to her in that condition)
As for the six million, the judge is probably getting a kick-back out of the lawyer’s third, so the larger the payout, the more he pockets for himself.
I think this story has more to do with six million than it has to do with crappy Jennings pistols. Yes, the legal angle is brought into topic as we know who uses that as a means to achieve an end through deceptive word manipulation and lies. This is another attack with multiple projected wins. They were some seriously crappy pistols though. Frames were diecast from the most porous of white metals I have ever seen. I’ve had cap guns made from better stuff!