A couple who survived the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas on Friday filed a lawsuit against Academy Sports + Outdoors for selling the shooter the firearm used in the massacre, Dallas News reported.
The couple, Rosanne Solis and Joaquin Ramirez, are suing because the sporting goods store illegally sold a Ruger AR-556 and a 30 round magazine to the gunman. The firearm is legal in Texas but the shooter was a resident of Colorado, where it's illegal for him to possess a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds.
"A Texas gun dealer [Academy] cannot sell a firearm and deliver that firearm to a citizen of another State if that sale would not be legal in the purchaser's State of residence," the lawsuit reads. "The Ruger should have never been placed in Kelley's hands."
Both Solis and Ramirez were shot during the shooting. They're each seeking more than $1 million for physical and mental anguish, disfigurement and medical expenses.
Legal experts disagree about the case.
"I think Academy screwed up," Emily Taylor, a gun law expert in San Antonio, told Dallas News. While Taylor says these kind of cases are rare, she believes Solis and Ramirez have strong standing. "In fact, in practice I have never seen anything like this come up."
Colorado gun law expert and federally licensed dealer Robert Wareham, however, disagreed.
"It'd be pretty onerous if we told every federal firearms licensee in the nation that they were responsible to know the gun laws of every other state," Wareham said. "I don't think the address he puts down would be definitive, but that's up to a judge to make that call."
According to KSAT-TV, Solis was shot in the shoulder but Ramirez was able to crawl out of the church and contact police for assistance. The two ended up driving themselves to a nearby hospital.
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