Some posts on this site are easy to write. This is not one of them. I’m Lance Rankin, owner of Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and I want to walk through the lawsuits filed against Daniel Defense after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, as plainly and fairly as I can.
First, a disclosure. Western Sport is an authorized Daniel Defense dealer. I sell their rifles and I think highly of how they build them. You deserve to know that before you read anything I write on this subject, and it’s exactly why I’ve tried to keep what follows factual rather than argumentative.
Second, the thing that matters more than anything else in this post: nineteen children and two teachers were killed in Uvalde on May 24, 2022. Whatever anyone concludes about the litigation, that loss sits underneath all of it.
What the lawsuits allege
In May 2024, on the second anniversary of the shooting, families of Uvalde victims filed lawsuits against three companies: Daniel Defense, which manufactured the rifle used in the attack; Instagram’s parent company; and Activision, the publisher of the Call of Duty video games.
The complaints allege that these companies, in different ways, marketed to and conditioned vulnerable adolescents. With respect to Daniel Defense specifically, the plaintiffs point to the company’s advertising, which has used military imagery and slogans like “Use What They Use,” and argue that this marketing was aimed at young men and glorified violence. The families’ attorneys have drawn a direct line, in their telling, between the companies’ conduct and the shooter’s actions.
Those are allegations, not established facts. A complaint is one side’s account, written to make the strongest possible case. Daniel Defense is entitled to answer those claims in court, and courts exist to sort out which claims hold up.
The legal backdrop
Lawsuits against firearm manufacturers run into a specific federal statute: the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, passed in 2005. PLCAA generally shields gun makers and dealers from liability when their products are used in crimes. It has narrow exceptions, and one of them is what these cases tend to turn on: a manufacturer can still be sued for knowingly violating a statute applicable to the sale or marketing of its products.
That exception is how families of Sandy Hook victims reached a $73 million settlement with Remington in 2022. They argued Remington’s marketing violated Connecticut’s consumer protection law, and the case settled before trial. The Uvalde plaintiffs appear to be working from a similar playbook. Whether that approach succeeds under Texas law and in the courts hearing these cases is a question I’m not qualified to answer, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
Daniel Defense’s position
Daniel Defense has defended its marketing publicly. Founder and CEO Marty Daniel testified before Congress in 2022 and said the company sells to civilians on the strength of its military heritage and reputation for quality. The company was founded around 2000 in Georgia, got its start making rails and accessories, won a Special Forces rail contract in 2003, and began producing complete rifles in 2009. It’s now one of the larger privately held firearm manufacturers in the country, headquartered in Black Creek, Georgia.
As with any defendant, how Daniel Defense responds to these specific suits will play out in filings and rulings over time, not in press coverage of the day they were filed.
Where things stand
Litigation like this moves slowly and changes shape. Motions get filed, claims get dismissed or survive, appeals happen, and sometimes parties settle. Anything I write here about the current status will eventually be out of date, so I’d rather be honest about that: if you want to know where these cases stand today, check current news coverage or the court dockets rather than relying on this post.
A closing thought
I run a firearms business, I raised my kids around guns, and I believe in the lawful ownership this industry serves. None of that makes Uvalde easier to think about, and it shouldn’t. People in my line of work owe the public straight talk about hard subjects, not spin. The courts will decide what the law says about these claims. The rest of us can at least keep the families in mind while they do.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
