Pin the Tail on . . . Somebody: The Kansas Supreme Court's Decision to Expose Firearms Dealers to Unwarranted Liability

raised the degree of care applicable to Kansas firearms dealers conducting sales, which in turn elevated the risk of liability for selling firearms to such a high level as to cast considerable doubt on whether Kansas firearms dealers can continue their trade. 2 In Shirley, the Kansas Supreme Court reversed the Kansas Court of Appeals, holding that firearms dealers must exercise the “highest degree of care” when conducting firearms sales. 3 As a result, Kansas firearms dealers may be liable for selling a firearm to an incompetent purchaser if a jury determines the dealer had even the slightest possible reason to know of the purchaser’s incompetence. 4 This proposition seems fair until one considers that the supreme court’s holding requiring firearms dealers to exercise the “highest degree of care” in determining whether a purchaser is competent to possess a firearm came without instructions. 5 The highest degree of care is one feather away from negligence per se, 6 and firearms dealers have been given an expectation with no guidance as to how to live up to it. This Note analyzes the supreme court’s imposition of the highest de-