A woman wounded in last month’s mass shooting on a New York City subway car filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Glock, the maker of the handgun allegedly used in the attack.
Ilene Steur, 49, was one of 10 people hurt by direct gunfire when she was hit by a bullet in her buttocks during her commute to work on 12 April.
Her lawsuit against the Austrian gun manufacturer, filed as a federal lawsuit in Brooklyn, claims that Glock should be held liable because it “endangered the public health and safety” with the marketing, distribution and sales of its guns. It accuses the firearm manufacturer of “reckless disregard for human life”.
A man charged in the attack, Frank James, is described a “Black nationalist” in the complaint. He has pleaded not guilty to terrorism and other counts after turning himself in.
Prosecutors allege James set off smoke canisters and then fired a 9mm Glock handgun at least 33 times inside the crowded subway car. In addition to the 10 people wounded in the attack, 13 others were injured by smoke inhalation and in the ensuing chaos.
Steur’s lawsuit accuses Glock of “marketing that emphasizes firearm characteristics such as their high capacity and ease of concealment, that appeal to prospective purchasers with criminal intent”.
It claims Glock is aware that its design is “unsuited to personal defense or recreation, enables an individual in possession of the weapon to inflict unparalleled civilian carnage”.
The complaint goes on to accuse Glock of making an “intentional effort for their pistols to be used in movies and rap songs”.
Mark Shirian, one of Steur’s lawyers, told the New York Times “gun manufacturers do not live in a bubble.
“They are aware that their marketing strategies are empowering purchasers with ill intent and endangering the lives of innocent people,” he said.
The gun manufacturer has not immediately commented on the lawsuit. It has in the past rejected calls to curb sales of its high-capacity magazines.
Since the New York subway attack, two high-profile mass shootings – one in Buffalo, New York, and the other in Ulvalde, Texas – have claimed the lives of 31 people, including 19 children.
In the years following the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, the families of nine victims sued Remington, manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 style weapon used in that attack, complaining that Remington should have never sold that style of weapon to the public. The case settled earlier this year for $73m.
Gun rights groups have indicated the settlement will have little effect on rifle sales and gun makers since they remain mostly shielded from legal accountability in mass shootings under federal law.
