
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Harry Small, Jr. has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed against a gun store and a weapons manufacturer that was brought by the parents of a Mt. Pleasant teen who was shot and killed by a friend in 2016.
The Tribune-Review reports that Judge Small’s report said a 2005 federal law gives gun makers and dealers immunity involving allegations that a legal weapon was used in a criminal act.
The lawsuit was filed by Mark and Leah Gustafson last year against Springfield Armory and Saloom Department Store in Illinois for selling the gun used in the March 2016 incident where 14-year-old John Burnsworth fatally shot 13-year-old James Gustafson while the two were with three other children under the care of babysitter Brook Nelson at the home of Joshua Hudec.