A Kentucky jury has ordered the manufacturer of a ghost gun kit to pay more than $104 million to the family of an 18-year-old who used the assembled handgun to take his own life.
The verdict, believed to be the largest ever against a gun dealer, includes $4.2 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
The company, Husky Armory LLC, did not appear in court.
The Case
In July 2023, Henry Willis purchased a Glock G19 pistol “build kit” from Husky Armory’s website. He assembled the handgun in his family’s garage after telling his father he was building a transistor radio. Six days later, he used it to end his life.
Federal law prohibits the sale of handguns to anyone under 21. A licensed dealer could not have legally sold Willis a handgun because of his age and because he would have failed a background check.
The lawsuit argued that Husky Armory, an online seller operating without a federal firearms license, violated the law by selling the kit without verifying Willis’s age or conducting a background check.
The Verdict
The $104.2 million payout is the largest ever reached against a gun seller, surpassing the $73 million settlement awarded to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by rifle-maker Remington.
A state court in Louisville had previously issued a default judgment against the vendor for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Following a two-day trial this week, the jury awarded the damages.
“This historic verdict sends a powerful message to ghost-gun sellers who set up businesses to profit by circumventing critical safeguards like background checks and age verification,” said Dana Mulhauser, an attorney for Everytown Law, which represented the family. “Henry should be home with his family today, and Laura deserved more time and opportunity to help her son heal”.
Ghost Guns
Ghost guns are firearms without serial numbers, making them untraceable. The case comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court upheld Biden-era regulations mandating serial numbers on homemade weapons and requiring buyers to complete background checks and age verification.
Husky Armory’s website advertised the product as having “everything you need to build your own Glock-style pistol from the comfort of your home,” noting the weapon could be assembled by “nearly anyone with a brain,” according to the lawsuit.
The Family’s Response
At a news conference, Willis’s mother, Laura Herp, described her son as a “kind, gentle child” who had struggled with mental health issues in the months leading up to his death.
“A child in crisis should never be able to access a deadly weapon,” Herp said. “Companies like Husky Armory thrive off selling to folks who shouldn’t have access to firearms, and they didn’t care who Henry was. They didn’t even bother showing up to the trial”.
The Bottom Line
A Kentucky jury awarded $104 million to the family of an 18-year-old who died by suicide after buying a ghost gun kit online from Husky Armory. The company, which had failed to appear in court, was found to have violated federal law by selling the kit without age verification or a background check. The verdict, believed to be the largest ever against a gun dealer, sends a warning to ghost gun sellers who sidestep regulations.
