WASHINGTON —A Bush-era federal law that protects gun dealers from being liable for murders committed with guns from their shops is under fire in an Alaska court case that has led the Justice Department and gun-control activists to intervene.
At issue is whether a Juneau gun dealer is liable for letting a disheveled homeless felon leave his store with a rifle he used to murder a stranger. The family of the murder victim, Anchorage contractor Simone Kim, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that has made it to the Alaska Supreme Court.
The Kims are challenging the constitutionality of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which protects the gun industry from most lawsuits.
“This is the first state Supreme Court that will be deciding the breadth of the law as it applies to gun dealers who supply criminals with guns and profit from that,” said Jonathan Lowy, an attorney with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, who is acting as co-counsel for the Kims.
Jason Coday, a drifter with a police record in Utah and Nevada, arrived in Juneau on Aug. 2, 2006. Within hours, Coday walked into Rayco Sales gun shop wearing a garbage bag around his waist, which was filled either with his belongings or with a sleeping bag. Bill Driver, a Rayco sales clerk, described Coday in court papers as appearing to be a “typical Alaskan.”
The owner of Rayco Sales, Ray Coxe, showed Coday several rifles, including a $195 Ruger. Coday, who was not legally allowed to possess a firearm, said he would think about it. The gun-shop owner said he went to the rear of his store to take care of other things after Coday picked up his backpack as if to leave.
Coday, meanwhile, left two $100 bills on the counter and walked away with the rifle, which he later used to shoot Kim.
Coday, who head-butted his lawyer after being found guilty, was sentenced to 101 years in prison.
Kim’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Coxe, who successfully argued that the lawsuit against him should be thrown out under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The Kims appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court.
