Kansas City, Mo. announced Tuesday that it is filing suit against a gun manufacturer and several firearms dealers, accusing the group of running a trafficking ring that supplied guns to known felons.
The public nuisance lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, marks the first time a U.S. city has sued a gun manufacturer for illegal trafficking in over a decade.
The city alleges that firearms manufacturer Jiminez Arms and local firearm dealers Conceal & Carry, CR Sales Firearms, and Mission Ready Gunworks aided and abetted in a gun trafficking ring run by former Kansas City fire captain James Samuels.
Samuels was arrested in October and faces criminal charges of trafficking guns from 2013 to 2018, including to individuals he knew were felons who informed him they planned to shoot people. He has pled not guilty and remains in federal custody.
The lawsuit states that Nevada-based Jimenez Arms repeatedly shipped dozens of firearms to Samuels “knowing that he was not a licensed dealer and knowing that he was going to resell these guns.”
Mayor Quinton Lucas, who has promised to curb gun violence in the city, cited a “significant problem with illegal gun trafficking in our city.”
“While a lot of our criminal justice partners certainly try to make sure that they root this out, that they address it, there are a lot of private actors that, each day, create new threats for the citizens of Kansas City — frankly to the citizens of our entire region,” Lucas said.
“Gun dealers and manufacturers have a legal responsibility not to ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors that indicate illegal gun trafficking or straw purchasing,” said attorney Alla Lefkowitz, of Everytown Law, which is representing Kansas City.
Lawsuits against firearms manufacturers and dealers are few and far between since such businesses are generally protected under federal law from charges when their weapons are used to commit crimes. However, the city argues such protections do not apply when the businesses violate federal gun laws by selling weapons to people they know to be felons.