Miami Maker of Gun Used at Columbine Shuts Down
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Florida gun manufacturer that made the semiautomatic handgun [b]used[/b] in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre has gone out of business, a newspaper reported on Friday.
State records indicate that [b]Navegar Inc., of Miami-Dade County, maker of the TEC-9, and a sister corporation, were voluntarily dissolved on April 16,[/b] the Miami Herald reported.
Last week, the company won a major legal victory when the California Supreme Court ruled it was not liable for a 1993 attack in which a disgruntled businessman used a Navegar TEC-DC9 military-style assault pistol to kill nine people, including himself, in a San Francisco office building.
The court ruled that shooting victims may not sue firearms manufacturers if their weapons are used in a crime.
Navegar's lawyer, Ernest Getto, told the Miami Herald he tried without success to notify the company that they had won the suit but its phones had been disconnected.
``I don't know what happened to them,'' he told the newspaper.
Navegar owner Carlos Garcia declined comment, the Herald said.
The plaintiffs' lawyers have alleged that the [b]Navegar TEC-DC9 is designed and sold to facilitate mass killings.[/b] A teen-age gunman used a Navegar TEC-DC9 in the April 20, 1999, massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. He and a second teen-ager killed 13 people before taking their own lives.
[b]Experts suggested Navegar may have gone out of business due to the expense of fighting lawsuits, the Herald reported.[/b]
An industry source told the Herald that the TEC-9 may live on despite the demise of the company. He said he had heard that the sale of the design was under discussion.
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"...is designed and sold to facilitate mass killings" I say it functions as designed - no need for consumer safety admin.
I'm not a fan of the TEC-9 but it is still sad to see a legitimate manufacturer have to close due to the financial stresses of lawsuits.