Tens of thousands of survivors from the October 1st mass shooting could face a life time of mental trauma according to a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court.
Slide Fire is the name of a company that makes bump stocks-- devices that can make a semi-automatic rifle shoot as fast and easy as a fully automatic machine gun. Slide Fire is now facing a class action lawsuit claiming survivors should be compensated for mental health treatment.
The complaint was filed Friday by local law firm Eglet-Prince and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. It states that "Slide Fire apparently told the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the bump stock was intended to assist persons whose hands have limited mobility. The lawsuit says Slide Fire told ATF that in order to be allowed to sell the product under federal law.
However, the lawsuit says Slide Fire did not market or advertise its bump stocks in that way. Instead they were geared toward "people who love full auto." The lawsuit uses a photo from Slide Fire's catalog saying "your rifle is hungry, feed it."
At a press conference Tuesday morning, attorneys claim, that gunman Stephen Paddock could not have killed and injured nearly as many people as he did, if the bump stocks were not available to the general public.
So they filed a complaint to hold Slide Fire accountable, alleging the company is liable by making and selling a device that converted a conventional firearm into a machine gun.
Slide Fire's website says they've "...temporarily suspended new orders to provide the best service with those already placed."
Lifetime gun owner attorney Robert Eglet emphasized this lawsuit is not a political statement.
"This is not about restricting guns to responsible people," says Eglet. "This is about a device that was used, in our view, to subvert federal law and turn semi automatic weapons into machine guns that are meant for one purpose--to kill as many people as possible as fast as possible."
We reached out to Slide Fire for comment but a recording on a their phone line said there wasn't room to leave a message and Slide Fire didn't reply to our email.
Attorney Eglet says wrongful death cases and survivors who were injured will file cases as individuals when they determine who else could possibly be negligent.
