Michigan shooting survivor sues after former friend shot him in face with ghost gun
Guy Boyd said he had never heard of a ghost gun — a homemade gun made from parts — until his best friend at the time assembled his own pistol and shot Boyd in the face when they were both 17 in a harrowing incident detailed in a lawsuit Boyd filed Monday. Boyd, in a lawsuit filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, sued his former friend and the company accused of illegally selling him ghost gun kits.
Do-it-yourself ghost guns assembled from firearm components generally lack serial numbers, are untraceable by law enforcement and circumvent background check requirements in place for other firearm purchases. The gun violence prevention advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety calls ghost guns "the fastest-growing gun safety problem facing our country."
"They're readily available to anybody," Boyd said in an interview.
His lawsuit — supported by Everytown's litigation arm — alleges Pennsylvania ghost gun kits seller JSD Supply (JSD) illegally sold parts to a Michigan minor, who then assembled a pistol and fired it at Boyd's right eye in an incident the suit describes as a foreseeable and preventable accident. It provides details of the night of the shooting in May 2021 and shines a spotlight on gun regulations being considered by Democratic state lawmakers in Michigan to restrict ghost guns.
Using the laws currently on the books in Michigan, Boyd's lawyers allege JSD violated the Michigan Consumer Protection Act when they sold ghost gun kits to Boyd's then-best friend. The lawsuit marks the first case involving a ghost gun brought on the state's consumer protection law, according to Len Hong Kamdang, senior director of litigation strategy and trials at Everytown Law serving as a lawyer for Boyd.
The lawsuit alleges that the ghost gun kits JSD sold to Boyd's then-best friend in April 2021 were designed and marketed to easily build a pistol and legally constituted a firearm. As such, the buyer should have undergone a background check to make his purchase, the suit asserts. JSD told customers they didn't need to fill out paperwork, undergo a background check or register the firearm they built, according to archived pages of the company's website cited in the lawsuit.
"So they're actually celebrating this business model of circumventing the law," said Kamdang.
Neither Boyd's former friend nor JSD immediately commented on the lawsuit.
Boyd's lawsuit seeks damages for his injuries. Boyd lost his right eye in the shooting. Among the other injuries from surviving the shooting, Boyd has seizures so frequently he is considered epileptic, according to the lawsuit.
"You get used to it but it's not something we should have to get used to," said Denise Wieck, Boyd's mother.
Fragments of the bullet too dangerous to remove remain in her son's brain, the lawsuit states.
Surviving shooting inspires action
Boyd and Wieck shared vivid memories from the aftermath of the shooting. The flashes from first responders' vehicles illuminated the sky like a strobe light, said Wieck. When Boyd survived, the surgeon told her later that he walked into the operating room and told his team "'it'll be a miracle'" if her son lived, she recounted. Boyd recalled coming home for the first time from the hospital. It was a warm, sunny day. He remembered how good it felt to be outside, the fresh air on his face and how excited his dog was to see him.
After the shooting, Boyd and his mother joined the group of survivors trying to turn tragedy into advocacy for gun safety to prevent future tragedies.
Wieck called her son's lawsuit part of a "healing process" but more importantly, a vehicle to increase awareness of gun violence involving ghost guns, she said. The two have plans to teach gun safety to young people. They've started working on one of Boyd's ideas, a comic book about a one-eyed superhero teaching gun safety, Wieck said.
"We did lose a part of him that day. I mean he lived, but we don't have the same Guy we had before the shooting," said Wieck. But some of his best qualities seemed to survive along with him. "He's still wonderful. Still amazing. Still funny," she said.
Michael Bloch, a founding partner at law firm Bloch & White LLC, which is also involved in the case, along with the University of Michigan's civil-criminal litigation clinic, said he hopes the lawsuit will send a warning to those in the ghost gun industry. "We are hoping not only to hold (JSD) accountable but that ghost gun distributors across the country take note," he said.
Gun violence prevention: Michigan has new laws, gun safety advocates want to see more
Michigan Democrats eye ghost gun restrictions
Last year, Michigan Democrats passed new gun safety laws in the wake of the deadly shooting at Michigan State University. Michigan now has a universal background check requirement for all firearm purchases, a so-called "red flag" law to temporarily take away firearms from those posing an imminent threat and storage requirements aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of children.
Gun safety advocates want to see lawmakers do more, including adopting ghost gun restrictions.
Before she vacated her seat in the state House, former state Rep. Lori Stone, D-Warren, who now serves as Warren's mayor, introduced a bill to require homemade firearms to contain serial numbers. Democratic lawmakers in the Michigan Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus previously told the Free Press they plan to make legislation targeting "ghost guns" a priority this year.
Thirteen states currently regulate ghost guns, according to Everytown's research arm.
Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan shooting survivor Guy Boyd sues JSD Supply over ghost guns
