Your Privacy Choices
In a press conference held on January 7th, 2020, Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri announced that the city government was suing Jimenez Arms, Inc. Several co-defendants were named in the lawsuit along with Jimenez, including some local Kansas City-area firearms retailers. The suit alleges that either intentionally or negligently, Jimenez aided and abetted an illegal gun trafficking ring headed by co-defendant James Samuels, a former Kansas City firefighter. During the conference’s opening remarks, Lucas recognized the assistance provided by Everytown Law, the litigation arm of gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety. He stated, “We will be the first city to file a lawsuit against the gun industry in more than ten years.” The plaintiffs seek reimbursement for the costs of dealing with crime traceable to the alleged trafficking operation, as well as an order requiring the defendants to recover any related firearms still remaining out in the community.
The first page of KCMO’s 35-page lawsuit against Jimenez Arms and others.
According to the city government’s official statement:
Kansas City has one of the highest homicide-per-capita rates in the United States. In 2019, a firearm was involved in 95 percent of all homicides, and handguns were the firearm most frequently used. Jimenez Arms guns, which all of the defendants are alleged to have illegally distributed, have been frequently and disproportionately recovered at crime scenes in the Kansas City region.
Everytown Law’s Director of Affirmative Litigation, Alla Lefkowitz, stated:
Gun dealers and manufacturers have a legal responsibility not to ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors that indicate illegal gun trafficking or straw purchasing… This lawsuit should send a clear message to companies that choose to profit off illegal gun sales: you will be held accountable.
The JA380 shown here is one of five handguns currently advertised on the Jimenez website, with two additional models listed as “coming soon”.Normally, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (or PLCAA) protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from liability if their products have been used in the commission of crime. Enacted by the 109th United States Congress in October of 2005, the PLCAA has featured in a number of legal cases prior to Kansas City and Everytown’s current joint effort. In particular, four years after the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy, a Connecticut Superior Court judge cited the PLCAA in dismissing a related suit filed against the Remington Arms Company. Then three years after that, in March of 2019, the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling and permitted the suit against Remington to continue. Later that year, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In the instance of the current Kansas City suit, the plaintiffs believe Jimenez Arms will fall under an exception to the PLCAA’s protection because they allegedly knowingly violated federal gun laws. At this juncture, only time will tell.
