Santa Fe High School Shooting victims' families, survivors settle with ammunition seller
Survivors and families of the victims of a mass shooting at a Texas high school settled a lawsuit with companies that sold and shipped ammunition to the gunman, attorneys announced Thursday.
The "first-of-its-kind agreement" requires the seller to maintain an age verification system at the point of sale for all ammunition sales, according to Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
Everytown said it could not comment further on the agreement or say if there was a monetary settlement.
The settlement comes nearly five years after a 17-year-old student fatally shot 10 of his classmates and teachers and wounded 13 others at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, using his parents' firearms and ammunition he purchased online at LuckyGunner.com.
Federal law says children shouldn't be allowed to buy handgun ammunition
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase handgun ammunition, and the age rises to 21 if the ammunition is bought from a licensed dealer.
Yet the gunman "seamlessly and quickly" made two purchases on the site, each in "less than two minutes," according to the lawsuit. The suit alleged Tennessee-based LuckyGunner, LLC intentionally set up an online sales system through which it would not know or verify the ages of its customers.
A related company, Tennessee-based Red Stag Fulfillment, LLC, shipped Luckygunner’s ammunition to the shooter also without conducting any age verification.
The gunman made his first ammunition purchase in March 2018, two weeks after the deadly mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. He carried out the attack that May.
Parents mourn child killed in Santa Fe High School mass shooting
Sabika Aziz Sheikh, an exchange student from Pakistan, was killed in the shooting.
"Nothing will ever bring Sabika back," Farah Naz, Sabika’s mother, said in a press release. "But we hope that this agreement sends a message to other sellers of dangerous products: it’s your responsibility to prevent your products from ending up in the wrong hands."
The settlement comes after the Texas Supreme Court last year rejected an appeal by LuckyGunner, which argued it was entitled to immunity under federal law.
"Sabika’s killer should never have been able to go online and buy ammunition with a few clicks," Abdul Aziz, Sabika’s father, said in the release. "I rest easier knowing that this settlement agreement will prevent future illegal sales."
LuckyGunner says it 'followed all laws'
In a statement Thursday, LuckyGunner said it "followed all laws in completing the sales" and blamed "anti-Second Amendment groups" for targeting the firearms and ammunition industry "to promote their agenda."
In reference to the settlement, Jake Felde, CEO of LuckyGunner, said the company "didn't agree to do anything we weren't already doing." The company characterized the settlement as the suit being "dismissed."
Age verification should be required on all ammunition sales, advocates say
Alla Lefkowitz, Senior Director of Affirmative Litigation at Everytown Law, said age verification for ammunition sales is a "no-brainer."
"It simply should not be possible for a minor to go online and have ammunition shipped to their house, no questions asked. As we work to hold the gun industry accountable for its role in the gun violence epidemic, other online sellers should follow LuckyGunner’s lead and implement age verification processes," Lefkowitz said.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas school shooting survivors settle with online ammunition seller
