Judge Clears Cabela’s in Straw Buyer Lawsuit

A Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit against Cabela’s, which sold a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol that was later used in a murder. The woman who bought it, Brilena Hardwick, promptly gave the weapon to her boyfriend, a felon prohibited from having one — in fact, the lawsuit alleged that she was communicating with him via text message from the counter. That man, John Kuligowski, then sold the gun on the black market. It ended up being used in a gunfight that killed bystander KeKe Anderson, a 19-year-old mother.

The civil lawsuit, which was backed by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, was tossed because Delaware law specifically indemnifies retailers from such litigation, even though the suit alleges that Cabela’s has become a public nuisance for selling to people it should know are straw buyers. Whether that Delaware law should be amended is debatable, but what isn’t is the slap on the wrist Kuligowski got for possessing and selling the weapon: just 27 months.

Gun advocates want heavy penalties for the use of a gun in a felony, but that’s the equivalent of saying you’re only guilty of drunk driving if you cause damage doing it. The main gun problem in this country is guns getting to the black market, and this is precisely how it happens. A felon who’s already done time isn’t going to flinch at a 27-month sentence.

As best I can tell, Brilena Hardwick got off even easier. She was convicted but apparently disappeared before her sentencing.