TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Prominent National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of part of a lawsuit stemming from emails Hammer received after last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County.
Hammer on March 28 filed a notice that she was appealing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving California attorney Lawrence Sorensen, according to court documents.
After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shootings, Sorensen sent two emails to Hammer that included photos showing injuries from gunshot wounds.
Hammer filed a lawsuit in July against Sorensen and three other unrelated men because of emails she received, alleging that the emails were harassing and threatening.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in November dismissed the part of the lawsuit against Sorensen, with a final judgment entered in February.
In the November decision, Hinkle wrote that Sorensen sending the emails “unsolicited to anyone, even a public figure who advocates gun rights, was inappropriate, indeed disgusting.”
But the judge said Sorensen did not threaten Hammer and that the emails were protected by the First Amendment.