TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court agreed Friday with a district court decision tossing a lawsuit filed by a former Emporia State University football player shot by a teammate who mistakenly believed that disassembling his newly purchased handgun required pulling the trigger.

In 2018, Andre Lewis bought a Beretta APX 9mm handgun at Bass Pro Outdoor World in Olathe. While idling his Dodge Charger at a downtown Emporia stoplight several months later, Lewis decided to show his front-seat passenger, Marquise Johnson, that he knew how to take the gun apart. Court records show Lewis was convinced the gun wouldn’t fire with the magazine removed and that the trigger had to be pulled before disassembly the weapon.

Lewis was wrong on both counts, and the bullet that had been in the chamber struck Johnson in his left leg. The wound resulted in amputation of the limb below the knee.

Johnson’s attorneys filed a product liability lawsuit against gun manufacturer Beretta and retailer Bass Pro Shops. The suit alleged Bass Pro sold and Beretta manufactured a defective and unreasonably dangerous handgun.

“Unintentional shootings like Marquise Johnson’s are preventable,” said plaintiff’s attorney Jonathan Lowy. “Like any other product, guns can and should be made as safe as possible to make injuries less likely.”

The District Court in Lyons County granted summary judgment in favor of the firearm maker and seller based on a reading of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The PLCAA forbids lawsuits against manufacturers or sellers when a person criminally or unlawfully misused a firearm. This federal immunity designed to shield the gun industry wouldn’t hold if the gun was used as intended or in a reasonable way.

The case attracted an amicus brief from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund that argued the immunity law applied only if the “volitional act, apart from the discharge, constitutes a criminal offense.”

In a split decision, the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed the district court and determined the federal statute didn’t offer immunity to defendants in this case because Lewis didn’t intend to discharge the gun.

In an appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court, however, the firearm manufacturer and dealer argued the Court of Appeals came to the wrong conclusion about application of the federal law and that liability immunity existed because Lewis deliberately pulled the trigger. The state Supreme court found that argument persuasive.

“We hold that firearm sellers’ interpretation is a better reasoned and more accurately reflects Congress’ intent as reflected in the text of the PLCAA,” said Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall.

Wall, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, said factual disputes about whether Lewis’ actions made him culpable for a criminal offense would typically be resolved by a jury. However, the justice said, it was a violation of state law for Lewis to discharge the gun on a public road.

“Under the unique facts of this case,” Walls wrote, “any dispute about Lewis’ mental state cannot save Johnson’s lawsuit from the PLCAA’s immunity provision.”

He said the Court of Appeals erred by reversing District Court Judge Merlin Wheeler’s decision to grant summary judgement against Johnson.

The court record indicated Lewis purchased the Beretta after reviewing Bass Pro Shop’s “10 commandments of safe gun handling,” which included a rule about keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Apparently, Lewis reviewed the rules before signing a form to acknowledge he had read them.

The Beretta was accompanied by a user manual that explained the gun could fire even after a magazine had been removed. In addition, the booklet stated the gun’s striker-deactivation button allowed users to disassemble the gun without pulling the trigger.

The Beretta APX had a warning stamped on the gun frame that was on point in the case: “FIRES WITHOUT MAGAZINE.”