A Florida jury recently ordered a weapons distributor to pay $1.2 million to the widow of a Lake Worth teacher who was gunned down by one of his students. Thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Brazill shot and killed Barry Grunow with a .25-caliber Raven handgun on the last day of the 2000 school year because the Lake Worth Community Middle School English teacher would not allow him to talk to girls during class.

Pam Grunow filed suit against the Palm Beach County School Board, the gun's owner, Elmore McCray, and the wholesaler, Valor Corporation. The jury found that Valor improperly designed the gun without a safety feature, such as a lock, that may have prevented the murder. The case was the first brought against a gun manufacturer over the absence of a lock and a firearm's overall design. The jury also found the school board and McCray 95 percent responsible for the shooting. Plaintiff attorneys argued that Valor had been notified thousands of times that weapons the company manufactured were used in crimes.