A gun-control group is suing the company that produces bump stocks — devices used by the Las Vegas shooter to make his rifles fire nearly as fast as machine guns — on behalf of the killer’s hundreds of victims.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Vegas law firm Eglet Prince filed the suit against gun-accessory manufacturer Slide Fire Solutions LP, calling the company “negligent” for inventing and marketing a device “that enabled the killer to turn the country music festival into a war zone.”
Shooter Stephen Paddock used as many as a dozen rifles with bump stocks when he committed the nation’s deadliest mass shooting Oct. 1, killing 58 and injuring nearly 500 as he opened fire on an outdoor country-music festival from a sniper’s nest he built in a nearby hotel suite.
The Brady Center is suing on behalf of people who attended the festival and suffered “emotional distress as a result of the incident” and is demanding Slide Fire Solutions pay for victims’ medical and psychological monitoring, as well as cash for damages.
“Lawsuits on behalf of those wounded or killed by gunfire will follow,” a press release from group states.
The anti-gun group is also claiming that bump stocks reflect poorly on peaceful gun owners.
“Negligence supplying such dangerous products … unfairly tarnishes the right of all law abiding citizens to bear arms for lawful purposes, including protection, hunting, or other recreational activities,” the suit states.
The fallout against bump stocks was so intense following the massacre that even the regulation-averse National Rifle Association suggested Congress consider new laws covering the devices, though it’s CEO said he would not support an all-out ban.
Sales of bump stocks surged in the days following the attack, because gun owners feared they would be banned.
Slide Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.