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Brady suit against online seller dismissed

Vesely v. Armslist, LLC (7th Cir. Aug. 12, 2014), as discussed by Prof. Volokh. A person was killed by a stalker who bought a handgun, from a private individual, illegally since they were not residents of the same state, via the online site Armlist. Brady's legal theory was that Armslist facilitates private sales without background checks, and facilitates illegal interstate sales.

The Seventh Circuit upholds dismissal, without getting into the Federal statutory issues. A person generally has no legal duty to protect others, absent a special relationship with them (landlord to tenant, etc.). Armlist did not aid an illegal sale; it simply allowed someone to advertise, and was entitled to assume he meant to sell in compliance with the law.