The proprietor of a US firm that has bought ammunition on-line to quite a few mass shooters has prompted outcry as he pursues a everlasting place on Tennessee’s schooling board.
Jordan Mollenhour, who was backed by the state’s Republican governor, was confirmed by the state’s Republican-led senate on Thursday morning by 26-6. He's the proprietor of Fortunate Gunners, a web based Knoxville-based ammunition firm that he co-founded in 2009.
Mollenhour has been serving as a member of the state’s board of schooling for district two since November, however wants approval from the state home and senate to make his appointment everlasting. The Home will vote on Mollenhour’s nomination on Monday.
State faculty boards usually characterize the general public’s views on schooling, setting insurance policies and objectives in addition to overseeing sources. His on-line profile states Mollenhour is “dedicated to serving Tennessee’s college students, mother and father, lecturers, and different stakeholders in an effort to enhance the lives of all Tennesseans of all ages”.
Mollenhour’s firm has confronted quite a few lawsuits, together with a at present lively one which accuses it of negligently promoting ammunition to a then 17-year-old who killed 10 folks and injured 13 others at his highschool in Santa Fe, Texas, in 2018.
The victims argue that Fortunate Gunner didn't require the shooter to point out any ID or submit proof of his age earlier than he bought over 100 rounds of ammunition from the web site.
“The shooter was apparently so assured Fortunate Gunner wouldn’t verify his age that he felt comfy utilizing his personal identify and tackle to illegally buy the ammunition … in lower than two minutes, Fortunate Gunner authorised his order, which was mailed to the shooter’s residence two days later,” the plaintiffs allege.
Mollenhour’s firm denied any wrongdoing and argued that its homeowners had been immune from the lawsuit underneath the federal Safety of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which forbids firearms and ammunition producers and sellers from being held accountable when their merchandise are utilized in felony acts.
In March 2021, a choose denied Fortunate Gunner’s request to dismiss the case and ordered the lawsuit to proceed.
Fortunate Gunner was additionally sued in 2014 for promoting 4,000 rounds of ammunition to the shooter who killed 12 folks and injured 70 others in a movie show in Aurora, Colorado in 2012. A federal choose dismissed the lawsuit in 2015.
Mollenhour’s proposed appointment to the schooling board has been met with fierce criticism from the state’s Democrats and the general public.
Jeff Yarbro, a Tennessee Democratic senator tweeted, “There are almost 7 million folks in Tennessee. Certainly to God, @GovBillLee might have discovered one state board of schooling nominee who’s not in ongoing litigation about illegally promoting ammunition utilized in a lethal faculty capturing.”
Beth Joslin Roth, govt director at Secure Tennessee Venture, a grassroots gun-control group, stated, “The person who bought ammo to the underage shooter who carried out the sixth deadliest capturing in US historical past is more likely to be appointed to our state’s faculty board. That is so tousled. It’s disgusting.”
Mollenhour pushed again towards criticism, telling The Tennessean that gun-control teams are utilizing his nomination to “assault the second modification as soon as once more”.
“I reached out to numerous at the moment’s critics many weeks in the past and provided to reply any questions,” he stated, including, “I didn’t get a single query which solely confirms that their antics at the moment don't have anything to do with details. It was political theatre.”
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