Next week will bring back the 4th of July and mark the two-year anniversary of the horrific Highland Park Independence Day parade mass shooting in 2022. Robert Crimo III was arrested following the shooting that left seven people dead and dozens more injured. He remains locked up while awaiting trial. Crimo used a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle in the assault. Now, the family of one of his victims has launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the weapon manufacturer. Robert Crimo III clearly seems to be an absolutely evil person and his bizarre collection of facial tattoos don't do much to soften that image. He also may be proven to be completely insane. But nobody at Smith & Wesson killed those people at the parade. Crimo allegedly did that, though we hardly need to use the word "allegedly" in this situation. (CBS News)

A family of one of the seven victims killed in the Highland Park July 4th Parade shooting in 2022 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturer of the guns used in the shooting.

The family of Eduardo Uvalde, a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, is suing Smith & Wesson, the maker of the M&P 15 — the AR-15-style weapon — used in the shooting.

A group of survivors and families of children present that day are also part of the suit.

The suit filed in Illinois state court on Friday alleges that the maker continued to market and sell its M&P 15 and also pushed it on teenagers despite it being used in four mass shootings — including in Aurora, CO, San Bernardino, CA, Parkland, FL, and Poway, CA. — in the past decade.

In related news, Crimo showed up in court earlier this week where he was expected to plead guilty to seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery. But when the time came, he declined to change his plea to guilty, preferring to go to trial. Prosecutors had offered him life in prison without parole in exchange for a guilty plea, but Crimo apparently prefers to take his chances with potentially facing the death penalty. 

Other families of shooting victims have attempted the same sort of lawsuit that the Uvalde family is attempting but such efforts rarely end well. I'm sure we can all feel sympathy for what the family is going through and their anger and grief are understandable. Eduardo Uvalde was a great-grandfather with a large family who no doubt miss him badly. But the person who was clearly responsible for his death is currently behind bars and will likely never see the light of day as a free man again. He may even have his own life taken as punishment. That's how our criminal justice system is supposed to work. No amount of money will bring Mr. Uvalde back from the grave.

Smith & Wesson didn't violate the rules in this situation. Robert Crimo's father signed his Firearm Owner's Identification card, allowing him to legally purchase the rifle he used. He had no previous criminal record nor any other impediment to ownership. The firearm was examined by the police and found to be working properly, including the various safeties installed on it. Smith & Wesson produced a functional, safe firearm and had no control over the fact that an aspiring madman wound up purchasing it.

There is also the existence of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to be considered. It has protected most (though not all) firearms manufacturers from similar lawsuits. The Uvalde family's attorney is planning to claim that Smith & Wesson knowingly continued to market and sell their rifles despite the fact that the weapons had been used in previous mass shootings. Of course, their firearms also continued to be used in safe, legal ways by millions of other customers. That argument seems irrelevant and should not dismantle the company's protections under the PLCAA. While it may sound trite to say and I mean absolutely no disrespect to the Uvalde family, an old saying popular among Second Amendment defenders remains applicable here. Guns don't kill people. People kill people. In this case, an evil and very likely insane person killed quite a few people. It was a horrendous tragedy. But trying to shut down Smith & Wesson isn't going to change that.