Firearm Industry Accountability Matters

Here's why.

By: Sandy and Lonnie Phillips

On a warm night in July of 2012, Jessi Redfield Ghawi went to the movie theater with a friend in Aurora, Colorado. That night, as they sat in the theater seats watching a movie, a gunman opened fire on them. Jessi and eleven other people, including a pregnant person were fatally shot by a shooter with an assault rifle, a pump-action shotgun, and 4,000 rounds of ammunition.

Jessi’s life journey ended that night and changed forever the life journey of her parents, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips.

In the eleven years since Jessi was stolen by gunfire, Sandy and Lonnie have dedicated their lives to helping survivors of gun violence through their organization, Survivors Empowered, and by addressing issues of gun violence.

The Phillipses learned that the shooter had been sold 4,000 rounds of ammunition without even a background check by an arms dealer called Lucky Gunner. The Phillipses, represented by lawyers from the Brady Campaign, brought a lawsuit against Lucky Gunner in an attempt to have the dealer change their business practices.

But a law protecting arms dealers would force the Phillips into bankruptcy.

In 2000, shortly after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, the gun industry began to worry about lawsuits. In response to their concerns, the Colorado legislature gave the Colorado firearm industry a gift: some of the strongest civil protections in the country. The law required plaintiffs to pay defendants' legal fees if a case was dismissed and set narrow rules for the ability to bring a lawsuit.

The effect of Colorado’s 2000 gun industry immunity law was to squash Sandy and Lonnie’s lawsuit, and cause the judge in their case to impose attorney fees.

They were ordered to pay $263,000 to the arms dealer, Lucky Gunner, that recklessly sold the bullets that killed their own daughter. The financial burden forced the Phillipses into bankruptcy, and they lost their home.

Lucky Gunner’s disregard for life did not stop there. Lucky Gunner went on to sell the ammunition used in a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas. The Santa Fe families brought suit against Lucky Gunner and came to a settlement that required the online seller to have a system to verify the age of the purchaser. The Santa Fe High School shooter was only 17 years old when Lucky Gunner sold him the ammunition for the massacre. 

Had the Phillipses been allowed to bring their lawsuit, Lucky Gunner would have been forced to change their practices and a tragedy might have been averted. No one knows how many other tragedies might have been avoided if Lucky Gunner had been forced to change their practices.

The ripples of disregard have now spread to Tennessee. Jordan Mollenhour, who co-founded the privately-owned investment firm, Mollenhour Gross that owns Lucky Gunner, was appointed in March, 2022 to the Tennessee Board of Education by Tennessee Governor Lee. The appointment was despite Mollenhour’s financial connections to the Aurora, CO and Santa Fe, TX mass shootings. In response to the March 27, 2023 shooting at the Covenant School in Tennessee, that state’s lawmakers passed legislation that protects gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers, and sellers against lawsuits.

Back in Colorado, however, the Phillipses and Coloradans did not give up. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Colorado Ceasefire, the Giffords organization, and Moms Demand Colorado, the Colorado legislature repealed the state’s firearm industry immunity law which is named for Jessi.

On April 28, 2023, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips witnessed Colorado Governor Polis signing the Jessica Redfield Ghawi Act. This new law allows a person or entity that has been harmed as a result of a violation of standards by a firearm manufacturer, retail seller, wholesale seller,  importer, marketer, or distributor to bring a lawsuit under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

Sandy Phillips said, “Lawsuits – the ability to hold corporations accountable and to require common sense safety measures – have saved lives. Safer cars, better marketing strategies, and safer tools are all examples of more consumer protection because of legal action.” Lonnie Phillips added, “It’s too late for our Jessi and the others who were killed and injured that night, but this law will help change the way guns are sold in Colorado and reduce gun violence.”

Firearm industry accountability is an important tool to force arms dealers to change their practices, but it’s not just a state problem. In 2005, as the gun industry faced a rising number of lawsuits, the federal government passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) giving unheard of immunity to arms dealers nationwide. 

Gun industry immunity laws allow gun dealers to thumb their noses at survivors and ignore the mounting research and data that clearly show how to reduce gun violence through higher standards of gun ownership, better sales practices, and less lethal firearms and ammunition.

Arms dealers and manufacturers must be held to the same high standards of other product manufacturers. As we have seen with Lucky Gunner, lack of accountability only leads to more bloodshed and grief. 

Sandy and Lonnie first turned their grief into action by founding the non-profit, Jessi’s Message, which has evolved into Survivors Empowered – a national organization created by survivors, for survivors, empowering survivors. Recently, Sandy and Lonnie, working with Giffords, published a Survivors Toolkit. The Phillipses are now laying plans for a survivors retreat in Mexico where survivors of gun violence can learn to manage their symptoms of PTSD and reduce stress.

Photo of Sandy and Lonnie Phillips courtesy of Penny Okamoto; image of Jessi Redfield Ghawi and Sandy Phillips courtesy of Survivors Empowered Facebook page.