Bang! Ooh, ya got me, pardner!

Right in the wallet! AP has the good news.

Seattle, September 8 - The manufacturer and dealer of the rifle used in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings have agreed to pay $2.5 million in a settlement with victims' families, a lawyer said Wednesday night.

The settlement with Bushmaster marks the first time a gun manufacturer has agreed to pay damages for negligent distribution of weapons, said Jon Lowy, a lawyer with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. He also said the settlement with Bull's Eye Shooter Supply is the largest against a gun dealer.

The behavior was so egregious, involving people banned from owning guns able to buy them through the gross negligence of manufacturer and dealer and then use them for a string of murders, that it even overcame our usual deference to rip-snortin', gun-totin', chaps and chawin' tobakky, "pry it from my cold, dead fingers" Americanism.

Hopefully, with a solid precedent now established, there will be more such to come.