Sun Sentinel:

The families of two victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting on Wednesday sued the maker and seller of the weapon used in the rampage, claiming they should be held partially responsible for what Nikolas Cruz did with it.

The parents of Jaime Guttenberg and Alex Schachter want a judge to clear the way for them to claim damages against American Outdoor Brands, formerly known as Smith & Wesson, and Sunrise Tactical Supply. The Coral Springs store is where Cruz purchased the AR-15-style weapon used in the Feb. 14 shooting spree.

Fred and Jennifer Guttenberg, and Max Schachter “seek to hold defendants legally responsible for their complicity in the entirely foreseeable, deadly use of the assault-style weapons that they place on the market,” according to the lawsuit, filed in Broward Circuit Court.

Before the lawsuit can go forward, their attorneys said, judges have to clarify that gun manufacturers and sellers can be sued by victims.

“A confusingly written Florida statute stands in the way,” the attorneys wrote. “If the defendants claim that [the law] entitles them to immunity from such claims, and the courts agree,” the victims will be forced to pay the gun maker’s and seller’s legal fees instead of recovering damages.

The 2001 law, Florida Statute 790.331, explicitly prohibits state, county and city government agencies from suing businesses over the legal manufacture and sale of weapons that are later used unlawfully. The law is silent on whether victims can sue on those grounds.

The same law allows governments and victims to sue over defects in the weapons, but “the potential of a firearm or ammunition to cause serious injury, damage, or death as a result of normal function does not constitute a defective condition of the product.”

The Guttenbergs and Schachter want a judge to either declare that the law does not block them from collecting damages — or to declare the law unconstitutional.

Cruz, 19, bought his Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223 rifle legally a year before the shooting in Parkland.

Messages left for the attorney representing Sunrise Tactical Supply were not returned Wednesday. Attempts to reach American Outdoor Brands were unsuccessful.

I suspect that the Florida statute is clear, as is the federal statute.  So one of two things happen here.  Either the judge is an activist totalitarian and declares that the suit can go forward, in which case S&W has to hire attorneys as does the Sunrise Tactical Supply, and potentially lose in court – or, the judge declares that the suit can’t go forward and S&W still has to hire litigation attorneys who will charge them a lot of money.

Although we may never be able to prove it, the lawyers for the victims may be funded by Everytown and Bloomberg (or Soros).  This should not be seen disaggregated from the holistic gun controller strategy which is a multi-front war on gun owners and gun manufacturers and sellers.  This is one manifestation of the legal battles we will face in the future, the other manifestation being law-makers at the state and federal level.

This is war.  See it that way.