April 07, 2016 01:19 PM UTC

Phillips Family Blasts Bernie Sanders on Gun Immunity Law

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve noted several times in the last few years the sad story of Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi was murdered in the July 20, 2012 mass shooting at the Century Theater in Aurora. After the Aurora theater massacre, the Phillipses sued online sellers of ammunition and body armor that the killer used to obtain thousands of rounds of ammunition, a high-capacity magazine, and body armor.

Lonnie and Sandy Phillips lost their suit–and under the terms of both state and federal laws shielding weapons dealers from liability for harm caused by their products, they were ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to the ammunition dealers. Their story has provoked sympathy and some national press, though very little interest from local media.

But as 9NEWS reports today, the Phillips family is gaining visibility through the Democratic presidential primary–calling out pro-gun Sen. Bernie Sanders for his vote in favor of the federal law that helped ensnare them:

As the Democratic primary race turns to New York, where the gun issue looms large, Clinton will seize upon their story and those like it. The Phillips’ daughter, Jessica Ghawi, died in the 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.

Lucky Gunner was shielded from prosecution under a 2005 law that grants gun makers and sellers immunity from prosecution for crimes committed with their products. Sanders voted for the law, though he’s recently wavered over whether he supports it.

“We don’t have that much money to pay them, and they can take our house,” Phillips told USA TODAY. “Right now we’re living in a trailer traveling and speaking around the country trying to get people to understand how egregious this law is.”

“I don’t think he had any idea of the repercussions this law would cause,” Phillips said of Sanders. “I would like Bernie Sanders to at least apologize to us for the heartache this has caused.” [Pols emphasis]

After so many mass shooting events in recent years including the Aurora theater massacre, there’s no question that the debate over gun safety laws has shifted since 2005–at least within the Democratic coalition, where “pro-gun” holdouts like Sanders have had a harder time justifying their recalcitrance as victims and advocates have cried out for justice.

Regardless of who you support in the Democratic primary, you can’t help but feel sympathy for the Phillips family and their plight as we have since long before they became an issue in this race. Their political interest certainly can be justified by this law, which Sanders supported and has severely impacted their family as they sought justice in the wake of great tragedy.

And if we didn’t acknowledge what they’re going through, we would be playing politics.