Gun company 'liable' for teacher death

Supporters of gun control say it is too easy to buy a gun

A jury in Florida has ordered a gun distributor to pay $1.2m to the widow of a teacher shot down by a 13-year-old student.

In a landmark gun law case, widow Pam Grunow sued Valor Corp, arguing that small inexpensive pistols of the kind used to kill her husband often fall into the hands of young criminals, and are therefore unreasonably dangerous.

You knew this product was defective and you didn't do a darn thing about it

Lawyer Bob Montgomery

Barry Grunow was killed at his school in a Lake Worth, Florida, in 2000 by his then 13-year-old student Nathaniel Brazill, who is now serving a 28-year jail sentence.

Brazill used a .25-caliber Raven handgun, of a type that can be bought for as little as $75, which he had taken from the home of a family friend.

This is the first gun law case to address both the absence of a gun lock and the flaws associated with a cheap, easily concealed weapon.

'Saturday night specials'

The jury pinned most of the blame for Barry Grunow's death on the gun's owner for keeping his weapon unlocked, and school officials for allowing Nathaniel Brazill onto the campus despite being suspended.

Both the school and the owner were ordered to pay millions of dollars to Pam Grunow. Her total award was $24m.

But a portion of the blame was also attributed to the distributors of the Raven handguns, dubbed "Saturday night specials" for their small size and low cost.

Pam Grunow's lawyer, Bob Montgomery, told the court that Valor chose to ignore evidence the gun was the top choice of young criminals.

"You knew this gun was killing people. You knew this product was defective and you didn't do a darn thing about it," he told the distributors.

He also said the gun should have had an internal locking device.

Mr Montgomery, known for successfully spearheading efforts to sue major tobacco companies, said he hoped this case would achieve similar results.

But Valor Corp, with 14,000 licensed firearms dealers nationwide, argued that the company was not at fault - it simply did what it was designed to do.

Valor's lawyer John Renzulli said that for 11 years the gun did not pose any threat until Brazill, with a "dark and evil heart", killed his teacher.