
A Milwaukee, WI gun store, Badger Guns, was ordered to pay $6 million to two police officers who were shot in the line of duty by guns purchased at the shop.
Badger Guns in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin was found liable for criminal negligence in a case involving the shooting of two Milwaukee police officers. According to a report from NBC, the jury in the Milwaukee County Court ordered the gun shop to pay nearly $6 million to Officer Bryan Norberg and retired Officer Graham Kunisch, who sustained wounds to the face in 2009.
The police officers raised charges of negligence against the gun store. They asserted that the shop owners should have recognized the sale of the guns that eventually shot them was a part of a straw purchase. “Straw purchasing” refers to a person with a clean background buying a gun and then handing it over to a different person who was unable to acquire it.
This isn’t Badger Guns’ first alleged straw purchase. In 2005 alone, the store was linked to 537 guns that were found at crime scenes, according to a study from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The two police officers weren’t the only ones harmed in the line of duty by a Badger-sold gun. The lawsuit alleges that between 2007 and 2009, a total of six Milwaukee officers were injured by guns sold at the defendants’ store.
The gun store was ordered to pay Kunisch a sum of $3.6 million, Norberg $1.5 million, and an additional $730,000 in penalties.
Leave a Reply