Gun companies sued over mass shootings

The survivors and families of victims of recent mass shootings in Texas and Illinois are taking on gun companies and stores in dozens of lawsuits, alleging the businesses bear responsibility for the massacres.

Last week, survivors of the July 4 mass shooting at a parade in Highland Park, Illinois, sued gun maker Smith & Wesson Brands, two gun retailers and others for their alleged role in the attack that left seven dead and more than 40 injured. The families of three children who survived the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting earlier this year are pursuing legal action in separate cases, as well.

The gun industry, under federal law, has broad immunity from the fallout of mass shootings. Experts say plaintiffs face an uphill battle. But survivors, victims, family members and gun law advocates see an opportunity to hold manufacturers and dealers liable by calling into question their sales and marketing practices. If successful, these suits may reshape how guns are sold to Americans.

“The shooter in Highland Park didn’t act on his own,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law, one of the firms representing plaintiffs.

The Highland Park suits were filed in Lake County Circuit Court on behalf of the family members of people who were killed. The plaintiffs allege Smith & Wesson used deceptive marketing strategies to “appeal to the impulsive, risk-taking tendencies of civilian adolescent and post-adolescent males.”

The plaintiffs also accuse online distributor Bud’s Gun Shop and retailer Red Dot Arms of negligently and illegally selling the murder weapon — a Smith & Wesson M&P assault-style rifle — to the shooter despite a ban on selling such weapons in Highland Park. (Last month, a gun rights group sued the city, targeting the ban.) The man charged with killings and his father are also being sued.

The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and monetary damages from each of the defendants. CNBC reached out to Smith Wesson, Bud’s Gun Shop and Red Dot Arms for comment.

The Uvalde plaintiffs, meanwhile, are seeking punitive damages against gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, Firequest International Inc., which designed the accessory trigger system used by the gunman, and gun store Oasis Outback.

The complaint, filed last week in Texas’ Western District Court, also seeks to hold accountable the school district, city and law enforcement officials. It alleges that the failures and negligence by each of these entities played a role in the attack that left 21 students and teachers dead on May 24 after an 18-year-old gunman began firing into classrooms at Robb Elementary School.

According to the suit, Daniel Defense “directly sold the Uvalde shooter a DDM4 V7 days after his 18th birthday,” and alleges that the gun manufacturer’s marketing to young adult males is…