The parents of one of the victims of the 2018 Parkland mass shooting filed a lawsuit Thursday against the United States government, claiming the country's gun policy violates basic human rights.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver filed the lawsuit on behalf of their son Joaquin, who was 17 years old when he was killed Feb. 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"Joaquin Oliver was killed as a consequence of the actions and omissions of the United States of America that enabled and facilitated high-risk firearm sales to unsuitable civilian buyers and prevented the adoption of widely accepted measures to protect persons from being injured or killed by guns," the lawsuit states.
The Olivers claim in the lawsuit that the U.S.'s gun policies and the Second Amendment are inconsistent with the human right to live.
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"The point of this lawsuit is that nobody is above the law, not even the United States of America," said Arturo Carrillo, the director of the George Washington University Civil and Human Rights Law Clinic. "And so we're in an international tribunal that can tell the United States as a nation on the globe bound by international human rights law that it must do more by its people. It must protect their right to live free from gunfire."
Since the massacre, the Olivers have been active in their fight to reform gun laws in the country.
