5 Years Later, Mourning Mom Battles Against Guns

WASHINGTON -- Five years ago on Sunday, February 12, a teen with a pistol-grip shotgun devastated families and the community of Salt Lake City.

Carolyn Tuft's family was one of those shattered by the gunfire. Carolyn was shot and so was her 15-year-old daughter Kirsten, who died of the injuries. In the years since that horrible day, Brady Center lawyers have represented Carolyn in court, seeking justice against the pawn shop that illegally sold the gun to gunman Suleman Talovic, 18 at the time. Last summer a judge cleared the case for trial and a tentative trial date in May, 2012 has been set.

"We know the past five years have been deeply painful for Carolyn, her daughter, Kait, and the rest of the Tuft family," said Brady Center Acting President Dennis Henigan, "But we are gratified that the family will have its day in court soon and that irresponsible gun dealers will get the message that they can be held accountable for their actions. We as a nation cannot stand by as reckless gun dealers endanger our families and communities, and cause lifelong heartbreak and trauma."

Below is an excerpt of a message Carolyn Tuft released to the Brady Center.

"Five years ago today, my family's life was shattered. A teenager armed with a gun he never should have had opened fire in a crowded Salt Lake City shopping mall. He shot me and killed five people, including my beautiful 15-year-old daughter, Kirsten.

After the shooting, I found out that the shooter was too young to legally buy his gun, but a pawn shop sold it to him anyway. The shop is still in business – and even kept the profit it made off this gun sale.

But with the help of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project, we are holding that pawn shop accountable in court. The shop fought us all the way to the Utah Supreme Court, but the Brady Center's attorneys helped me get my day in court, and we're set for trial this year.

I don't want another mom to lose a child, like I lost my daughter."

 
AmericansForGuns's picture

The Brady Campaign

Making Statistics One Defenseless Victim at a Time

The Brady Camp, and anti gun nuts in general, are creating dead, beaten and raped victims every day in this country. They do this by convincing YOU that by YOU not carrying a gun to defend yourself that somehow you are contributing to reducing crime. But, are YOU a criminal? If YOU carried a gun would you suddenly lose your mind and go on a killing rampage?

The Brady camp knows that there are violent criminals out there. And they know if these criminals somehow target YOUR family like they do so many others in this country that YOU will be defenseless by listening to their rhetoric and their false statistics.

Are YOU naive enough and ignorant enough to give YOUR life up, and your families lives up, to some crack head criminal who doesn't care in the least if he bashes in your sons skull or rapes your daughter and butchers her afterward....just to win points with the Brady camp nuts?

Is YOUR family so worthless to you that you will let some man like Paul Helmke tell YOU that you can't be trusted with a tool to defend your family from these predators?

Why do you let Brady tell you how YOU will behave if you own a gun? Why do you let them allow YOU to let YOUR family be unprotected just so THEY can spew out feel good rhetoric so even bigger idiots than you will continue to support them?

What does Brady lose or gain if YOU listen to their idiocy and YOUR wife is raped when she could have saved herself by simply having a gun ?

See what happens when a woman has a gun? See this video: Woman kills her returning rapist with shotgun No gun = a raped woman. Gun = unraped woman and a dead ass rapist.

No one wants to admit that the Brady camp MAKES dead victims. They CREATE raped women. They FACILITATE defenseless prey who are beaten, raped, robbed, stabbed, shot....murdered.

And they do it because YOU let them because YOU are too much of a hive mind drone that you can't think and reason for yourself. Do you think Paul Helke gives a rats rear about YOUR wife...YOUR son...YOUR daughter? No...he doesnt.

All the Brady Camp cares about is making sure YOU are DEFENSELESS. To them if you are murdered...if your wife is savagely raped and beaten to death....if you son is ripped apart by some lunatic with a knife, all Brady sees is that you are one more statistic. Gun rights groups are fighting for YOUR RIGHT to DEFEND yourself even if YOU don't presently understand that fact. Gun rights advocates want YOU to have the POWER to PROTECT yourself...your wife...your daughters and your sons...even if you cant accept that fact.

You may call us gun nuts. You may think we are paranoid. But the fact is that there are millions of defenseless victims in the USA every year.

Will your wife be one of them tomorrow? Will your family? You may not think so but crime happens every day...and it happens to someone just like you and me. Will YOU be next? And if you are can you do anything to stop it? Honestly?

AmericansForGuns's picture

http://gunrights.web77.org/gunfreezone.shtml

AmericansForGuns's picture

Very sad for the family but this is akin to fighting against CARS because your kid was hit by a drunk in a stolen vehicle.

Fighting GUNS wont stop the killing....

When Guns Are Gone

http://gunrights.web77.org/whengunsaregone.shtml

ross80477's picture

Sadly this is just like kicking your dog because you had a bad day at work. This poor lady is being made a tool by the Brady Bunch. Her fight is with the killer.

silveravnt's picture

Careful, you might expose the true motives of the Brady Campaign. They aren't against crime or criminals. They are against guns, inanimate objects.

I wouldn't worry about it though Brady are to small to be significant.

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