A groundbreaking lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh charges that anti-Semitic gun lobby propaganda incited Robert Bowers to kill 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue with an AR-15, a machine gun not suitable for civilians.
“Our goal first and foremost is to save lives,” said Robert Bracken of Bracken Lamberton, LLC, one of the lawyers representing Marc Simon whose parents were murdered. “If we can prevent just one hate crime or avert just one mass shooting, it’s worth it.”
According to court filings, the gun lobby radicalized Mr. Bowers with a flood of white supremacist conspiracy theories about Jews. It falsely and repeatedly said that Jews were importing non-whites from third-world countries to commit crimes in the United States, and that Jews intend to confiscate privately owned firearms and install a socialist government. Bowers mimicked the gun lobby’s lies in his social media posts before committing one of the bloodiest acts of domestic terrorism in United States’ history and the deadliest anti-Semitic hate crime ever on American soil.
“What did they think was going to happen?” asked Charles Lamberton, co-counsel for Mr. Simon. “Did they really think they could stoke so much fear and hate without someone getting killed? Of course not. They just didn’t care because they profit off fear and hate.” Bracken added, “AR-15s are designed to kill people. That’s the only thing they’re good for. A company that puts profits ahead of people and floods our markets with these military weapons must be held accountable.”
Asked what lies ahead, Lamberton replied, “We’re going to trial and we’re going to win.” The case is Marc A. Simon, as Executor of the Estates of Sylvan Simon and Bernice R. Simon v. Colt Manufacturing Company, LLC et. al., GD-20-011130 (Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas).
