A longtime champion of common-sense gun safety, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend successfully opened the door for victims of gun violence and their families to sue gunmakers and gun dealers in state court when their conduct knowingly or recklessly endangers the safety and health of Delawareans.
Prior to the passage of Senate Bill 302, Delaware law gave the firearm industry such near-total immunity from liability that a Delaware Superior Court judge cited the statute as the sole reason for dismissing a lawsuit against a Christiana firearms dealer that had been filed by the family of a 19-year old innocent bystander who was gunned down in a 2016 drive-by shooting.
According to the lawsuit, an employee of Cabela’s sold the .40-caliber pistol used in the shooting to a woman who was making a straw purchase on behalf of her boyfriend, a convicted felon who orchestrated the sale over the phone from outside the store. The gun was later sold on the criminal market to two underage teenagers who used the illegally purchased weapon to indiscriminately fire on by-standers in Wilmington, killing Keshall “KeKe” Anderson, the mother of a 6-month-old boy.
SB 302, also known as the Keshall “Keke” Anderson Safe Firearm Sales Act, now allows someone harmed by the gun industry’s recklessness or negligence to sue for damages and other relief, while permitting the Delaware Department of Justice to seek an injunction that would prohibit a member of the gun industry from continuing to engage in those actions.
Passed as part of an historic gun safety package, SB 302 was later upheld by a federal judge.
