Stokinger v. Armslist
Summary
Armslist.com, the largest online marketplace for guns, facilitated the sale of multiple firearms to a gun trafficker. A criminal drug dealer then bought a gun from the gun trafficker and used it to shoot a Boston Police Officer. Brady sued Armslist for negligently enabling the sale of firearms to a gun trafficking operation and for creating an online marketplace that enables dangerous people to buy, sell, and obtain guns that they are otherwise legally prohibited from possessing.
Facts
On Armslist.com Sara Johnson bought dozens of firearms which she later resold to prohibited purchasers. One of the trafficked guns she bought on Armslist was sold to Grant Headley, a known drug dealer. Headley illegally bought a .40 caliber Glock Model 27 semi-automatic handgun from Johnson.
On the morning of January 8, 2016, while on duty investigating a neighborhood drug control unit, Officer Kurt Stokinger, a decorated nine-year war veteran of the Boston Police department, was shot in the leg. He only survived these injuries thanks to his partner who quickly and successfully applied a tourniquet to control the bleeding. The shooter, Grant Headly, should not have had access to a gun.
Headly illegally acquired his firearm through a gun trafficking operation that was enabled by Armslist.com.
Court History
On October 18, 2018 Brady, Crowe & Mulvey, LLP, and Blank Rome LLP filed suit against Armslist, alleging that the website facilitates illegal acts by allowing dangerous people to illegally obtain guns and traffick them to criminals. The suit also alleges that Armslist created its website without safeguards to prevent this illegal activity, intentionally creating a dangerous online marketplace in order to facilitate illegal firearm transactions.