Jeffrey Marshall, 19, contacted a Pacifica gun shop two years ago to buy a hunting shotgun, the only type of gun that can be legally sold in California to a buyer aged 18 to 21. But the City Arms store instead sold him a short-barreled shotgun with lead slugs, a weapon and ammunition that are both banned for hunting in the state, according to a lawsuit filed by his parents.
Marshall, who had agreed to the purchase by phone from home in Oakland and had a hunting license, picked up the shotgun at the store in August 2024. He was scheduled to fly to New Orleans three days later for the start of his sophomore year at Tulane University. But in his home in the early morning hours before the flight, he used the gun to take his life.
“City Arms did not conduct any inquiry to assess whether Jeffrey actually intended to use the firearm to hunt” or sell him a gun that was legal for hunting, attorney David Eiseman wrote in the suit, filed Monday in Contra Costa County Superior Court. He was joined by lawyers from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence…