On August 18, 2009, the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project (LAP) filed a brief in the Court of Appeals of Kansas, asking the Court to reinstate a lawsuit brought by Elizabeth Shirley, whose son was killed with a gun sold by a dealer to a straw purchaser. 

The shooter was prohibited from buying guns due to a prior felony conviction for rape and attempted kidnapping and a domestic violence restraining order.  

The same day the shooter acquired the gun from Baxter Gun & Pawn in Baxter Springs, KS, he used it to his 8-year-old son.

The Brady Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Simone Young Kim, who was shot and killed while working in Juneau, Alaska. The killer, Jason Coday, was a fugitive from justice and a methamphetamine user who was prohibited from buying or possessing guns, yet he was able to walk out of Rayco Sales gun shop with a rifle without being subjected to a background check. Two days later Coday used the gun to kill Kim, a total stranger.

The lawsuit, filed along with Mark C. Choate of Juneau, contends that the gun dealer is liable for Kim's death for negligently and potentially illegally providing the rifle to the shooter.

» Click here to read more about Kim v. Coxe, et al.

The Brady Center has filed a lawsuit of behalf of Carolyn Tuft and her daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, who were shot while shopping at a mall. On February 12, 2007, five people were killed and four were wounded by a gun-wielding 18-year-old, Sulejman Talovic, at the popular Trolley Square shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. Among his victims were 15-year-old Kirsten Hinckley, who was killed, and her mother, Carolyn Tuft, who survived. Talovic was armed with a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun with a pistol grip, which he used to shot Kirsten, Carolyn, and all but one of his victims, and a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber five shot revolver.

» Click here to read more about Tuft & Hinckley v. Rocky Mountain Enterprises