A Macon woman who lost a child in an accidental shooting in 2000 was one of three people who won a judgment against a gun manufacturer this week.

Linda Bullard, whose 15-year-old son Billy died in 2000 in their Macon home, is due to receive several hundred thousand dollars, her Macon-based attorney Joel Grist said Friday. The exact amount of the judgment is still to be determined, he said.

Bullard was one of three parties who previously sued RKB Investments, an umbrella partnership set up in Florida by California gun manufacturer Bruce Jennings, whose company, Bryco Arms, manufactured handguns known as "Saturday night specials."

"These were the Ford Pintos of firearms," Grist said. "It's great to be able to shut them down after what they've done."

In order to avoid paying the three parties who had sued, RKB Investments filed a suit itself against the three seeking damages from the company, Grist said.

As defendants, Bullard and the others faced the company in United States Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville. The lawsuit brought by RKB sought no money, but instead wanted a judge to issue a declaratory judgment action that would have said that only Jennings - not the other partners in RKB - was liable to pay damages in previous lawsuits.

RKB's lawsuit showed that Jennings' company was split among several entities, including ex-wife Janice Jennings and the trust funds of his children.

But according to the judge's ruling, the court not only declined to issue the declaratory judgment action that RKB sought, but also ruled that all of the entities in RKB were liable in the previous lawsuits filed against them.

"(Bruce Jennings) had set up all of these entities in his name, in his ex-wife's name, with his children's trusts," Grist said. "It was all a tangled mess of assets."

Bullard was unavailable for comment Friday.

It has been more than seven years since Billy Bullard's death.

He was killed March 25, 2000, after his older sister, Tiffany Hardware, legally purchased one of the Bryco guns in a local pawn shop for protection, Grist said. Hardware accidentally dropped the gun on a glass table, causing it to discharge, Grist said. The bullet struck Billy Bullard in the aorta, and he died en route to the hospital, Grist said.

Grist said he doesn't expect Linda Bullard or any of the other plaintiffs will see any money - which would be divided from Jennings' estate of $6 million - any time soon. He said Jennings is expected to appeal the verdict, which likely will tie the case up for two more years.

Grist said Bullard's lawsuit wasn't an attempt to curb the rights of gun owners, but rather to get a dangerous product off the streets.

"This has nothing to do with the rights of gun owners," he said. "Nobody should be able to manufacture a Defective Product."

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