The firearm store that sold the gun used in the Oxford High School shooting is asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to dismiss a liability lawsuit filed by the family of a survivor.

In a filing with the court, Acme Shooting Goods argues that it’s too far removed from the crime to be held culpable. The business said store personnel had no way of knowing the 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun would be used in a mass shooting, or that James Crumbley was making the purchase for his teenaged son.

The brief, which uses the killer’s initials instead of his name, argues the claim requires assumptions that are not reflected in the record.

“E.C. stated that he asked his dad to purchase the gun for him; that he gave his dad money for the gun; that he picked out the gun; and that the gun was not kept in a locked container. But E.C. did not testify—and the complaint does not allege—that any of these statements or actions occurred in the store during the sale,” said the brief. It also said the plaintiffs did not identify “red flags” that should have alerted staff the purchase was a “straw sale” being made by the elder Crumbley for his son.

In the lawsuit, the family of Elijah Mueller, who was 14 at the time he was injured in the 2021 shooting, said they can show the dealer knew this was a straw sale by the shooter’s father for his teenaged son.

Matthew Turner, the attorney for the Mueller family, told Michigan Public Radio he can show the gun store skirted the rules when it allowed the shooter and his father to walk out with the gun used in the shootings.

“And we believe that there’s plenty of facts that, if we are fortunate enough to get to discovery, that will demonstrate that they knew that this gun was being purchased for the minor, who’s name I’m not going to use,” he said. “We think that there’s an important societal purpose and benefit to hold gun dealers accountable when they don’t follow the mandates of the law and something bad happens.”

Michigan and federal law make it difficult to sue gun dealers and manufacturers, but Lekha Menon, an attorney with Giffords Law Center, said there are cases being pursued across the country to hold the firearm industry more culpable for mass shootings.

“And I think claims like this against negligent dealers allow individuals to say, well, you had a duty to act a certain way, you violated that duty, and so we can hold you accountable,” she said. “And the more successful claims that we have like that, I think the more similar cases we’ll have popping up in relation to shootings like that.”

The Oxford High School shooter has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to order a new hearing before a judge to reduce his sentence of life with no chance of parole.

The shooter’s new legal team says his previous counsel failed to take crucial steps to protect his interests before the then-16-year-old pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder, terrorism, assault, and firearm violations. Four students were killed and seven people were injured in the mass shooting.

The shooter’s new lawyers from the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) argue that at a minimum a new judge should hear expert testimony on fetal alcohol syndrome, a troubled home life and other mitigating factors before imposing a new sentence.

“Though his offense is heinous, how our courts treat even those who have committed the most heinous crimes matters deeply,” said the brief arguing for the Supreme Court to hear Ethan Crumbley’s case. “The tragic nature of Ethan’s crime cannot give courts an excuse to overlook errors that occurred in his legal proceedings. The circuit court did more than overlook these errors. It blithely and repeatedly found that nothing could or would make a difference in the sentence imposed – death in prison, for someone 15 years old at the time of their offense.”

SADO attorney Jacqueline Ouvry said this appeal is not about relitigating the convictions, but requiring the court to consider “mitigating factors” that should have been part of the sentencing decision. Ouvry said that would align with court precedents that require unique considerations for younger defendants, even those charged as adults with violent offenses.

“They involve chronological age, which includes brain development,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “They involve the family and home environment a child grew up in, and the possibility of rehabilitation.”

“Ethan was 15 when he committed his offense,” she said. “He was very much a youth at the time.”

Ouvry said the case is also relevant because there are other defendants convicted as teens or young adults in state custody who are entitled to new sentences under court rulings.

“It matters how we sentence those who have done even the most heinous crimes and there are several hundred people in Michigan who because of recent court decisions will be resentenced for heinous crimes,” she said.

The Michigan Court of Appeals declined to reconsider the sentence in May, and a spokesperson for Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s office said the Supreme Court should let that be the final word.

“The facts are undisputed: On November 30, 2021, the shooter murdered Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, and Justin Shilling, wounded seven others, and terrorized an entire community,” said Public Information Officer Jeff Wattrick in an email to Michigan Public Radio. “We are confident the Supreme Court will concur with the lower courts and uphold his sentence.”

The shooter’s parents are serving prison terms for manslaughter convictions. They were charged with failing to act on signs their son’s mental condition was deteriorating and for failing to secure the semi-automatic firearm used in the shootings.

The Michigan Supreme Court refused to dismiss the charges in a 2023 decision that was the first time that allowed for parents to be held criminally liable for a school shooter’s actions.