A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit targeting Vermont gunmaker Century Arms that was brought by victims of a California mass shooting.
The case, filed by more than a dozen survivors of the 2019 rampage at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, sought to hold Century Arms liable for the shooting, in which a Nevada man used one of the company’s high-powered rifles to kill three people and wound 17 others. The shooter purchased the WASR-10 rifle at a gun shop in Nevada, then traveled to California to attack the festival.
The WASR-10 is legal to own in Nevada but is banned in California under state law.
Survivors of the shooting claimed Century Arms was partly responsible because the company flooded states surrounding California with guns that were illegal to possess there. Victims also argued that Century Arms firearms such as the WASR-10, an AK-47 variant, boast features that are particularly appealing to mass shooters. The company’s products have been used in several mass shootings in recent years, Seven Days has previously reported.
Century Arms prevailed in the case following a separate ruling this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court that limited when gunmakers can be considered liable for how their weapons are used.
In that case, the government of Mexico sued American gunmakers, including Century Arms, claiming that they were aiding and abetting drug cartels by failing to prevent their firearms from being diverted to the black market and trafficked into Mexico. The Supreme Court in June ruled unanimously that Mexico had not plausibly shown that distributing guns to dealers near the border amounted to aiding or abetting the criminals who later acquired them.
The high court’s opinion prompted Vermont District Court Judge William K. Sessions III to reverse his early decision and instead toss the Century Arms case.
A very similar case, filed by other victims and surviving family members of the Gilroy shooting, remains pending in federal court in Vermont. Nothing has been filed in that case in recent months.
An attorney for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a national gun-control group that represents the Gilroy plaintiffs, declined to comment. Attorneys for Century Arms did not respond to a request for comment.
Century Arms is headquartered in Florida and has a manufacturing plant in Georgia, Vt. The company imports military weapons and distributes them in the U.S. after modifying them to comply with state and federal laws.
Read the September 29 opinion here:
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