Just as plaintiffs’ lawyers prove increasingly successful at defeating the gun industry’s special legal immunity, a 15-year-old Nevada arms dealer that shut down in a bankruptcy precipitated by arms trafficking accusations has been reborn, The Trace reports. Less than two months after declaring Jimenez Arms Inc. insolvent, the company’s president was granted a license by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to manufacture firearms under a different name from a facility within walking distance of Jimenez Arms’ former headquarters in Henderson, Nev.
The father of a murder victim who blamed the arms dealer for his son’s death, and whose lawsuit against the company was undone by the bankruptcy, called the new development “unconscionable.” Plaintiffs’ lawyers probing for any assets that could have been inappropriately transferred out of the company lashed out at the ATF, saying this illustrates weak oversight of the gun industry. Public records tell the story of a string of financial and legal controversies trailing the company since its beginnings in the Los Angeles area as part of the “Ring of Fire,” a group of manufacturers of cheap handguns.