Victims injured in the 2018 mass shooting in a Toronto neighbourhood got a win in a class action lawsuit asserting that gun maker Smith & Wesson should have included safety measures that wouldn’t have allowed the stolen handgun to fire.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice tossed the American gun maker’s bid for dismissal, noting that the mass shooting class action lawsuit claims were not doomed, as argued by the defendant.
“There are issues to be tried and the putative class members should not be instantly denied a day in court,” stated Justice Paul Perell in his order allowing the case to move forward.
The class action lawsuit, filed by two of the victims of the mass shooting, contends that authorized user technology should have been included in the weapon that would not have allowed the devastating to occur. These technologies would allegedly require either the owner’s fingerprint or a chip embedded in a bracelet to allow the gun to fire. In addition, the technology allows the gun to fire only once.
The gun, an M&P40 handgun manufactured by Smith & Wesson, used in the 2018 mass shooting in the Toronto suburb of Danforth was stolen from a Saskatchewan store; however, it was unclear how the shooter, Faisal Hussain, obtained the weapon, according to Global News.
In its motion to dismiss, Smith & Wesson pinned the blame on the criminality of the shooter, not its own negligence. However, Justice Perell remained unconvinced.
“The difficulty… for Smith & Wesson in advancing this argument is that in the immediate case, there was a precaution that could have been taken to avail itself against the volition of Mr. Hussain shooting those innocents on the Danforth,” stated the order. “The precaution that could have been taken is the implementation of authorized user technology.”
Upon filing the $150 million mass shooting class action lawsuit, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs acknowledged that it was a novel argument.
“I don’t think a case like this has ever been before a Canadian court,” he told Global News Canada at the time. “There are lots of product liability cases, but as far as gun cases and gun safety issues like this are concerned, this is a new kind of case.”
Do you think gun makers should be forced to include user technology in their guns? Do you think it would stop a mass shooting? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
The lead plaintiffs are represented by Malcolm Ruby.
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One thought on $150M Class Action Lawsuit Against Gun Maker Over Toronto Mass Shooting Will Proceed
It’s a ridiculous lawsuit, to go after manufacturers for criminal use of anything is a show of how twisted our society has become. The items described to render the the handgun safe would also render it useless in a time of need. I guess it’s not a suprise though when we live in a nation that won’t allow its own citizens to protect themselves.