Online Gun Marketplace Held Not Liable for Multiple Killings

Online firearms marketplace Armslist LLC isn’t liable under Wisconsin law for facilitating the third-party sale of guns that were later used to murder two people, the Seventh Circuit said.

The bulk of the plaintiffs’ negligence claims—failure to require buyers and sellers to provide information about the legality of transactions, to require that sellers conduct background checks, and to impose a waiting period—can’t go forward because Armslist isn’t a “firearms dealer” subject to those requirements under Wisconsin law, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled.

Armslist isn’t a dealer because it’s “not engaged in the business of selling ...