A Kentucky jury has ordered an online ghost gun seller and its parent company to pay $104.2 million to the family of an 18-year-old who died by suicide with a handgun assembled from a kit the company mailed directly to him.
The verdict against Husky Armory and Up North Media is believed to be the largest ever awarded against a seller of firearms in the United States. The jury awarded $4.2 million in economic damages and $100 million in punitive damages to Laura Herp, the mother of Henry Willis, following a two-day damages trial in Jefferson Circuit Court in Louisville. The award represents a measure of accountability for an online business that sold unserialized gun-building kits to anyone with a credit card — without undergoing a background check or providing proof that they are old enough to purchase a handgun.
the case against husky armory
Husky Armory sold Henry a handgun-building kit on July 6, 2023, when he was 18 years old and experiencing what the lawsuit described as a serious mental health crisis. The kit was shipped directly to him through the mail. Six days after receiving it, Henry died by suicide with the handgun he had assembled.
Federal law requires anyone engaged in the business of dealing in firearms to obtain a federal firearms license (FFL). It also generally prohibits federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to individuals under 21. Licensed dealers must also verify a buyer’s identification and conduct a background check before completing a sale.
According to evidence presented in the case, Husky Armory and its parent company were not licensed firearms dealers and implemented none of those safeguards. Instead, the company boasted that customers could have the kits shipped to their doors with “No FFL” and “No Registration.”
Testimony presented to the jury indicated that Henry would not have passed the required background check, and that a licensed dealer also likely would have declined the sale after observing signs that he was in acute mental distress.
The case centered on more than a company’s failure to complete required paperwork. It showed how online ghost gun sellers eliminate nearly every point at which a dangerous or unlawful transaction might otherwise be stopped. There was no dealer examining Henry’s identification, no background check, no waiting for approval, and no trained person assessing whether the purchaser appeared to pose an immediate danger to himself. Instead, a nearly completed handgun frame and the parts needed to finish it were placed in the mail and sent to his home.
“Husky Armory robbed our family of the time we needed to help Henry out of crisis,” Herp said following the verdict. “No amount of money can bring my son back, and nothing will ever make this right, but it is my hope that this verdict will serve as a strong deterrent to bad actors across the gun industry.”
Suicidal crises are often temporary, and delaying access to a firearm can provide an opportunity for intervention, treatment, or for the immediate crisis to pass. By mailing a gun kit directly to Henry without going through any of the safeguards that would have applied at a licensed gun store, Husky Armory removed barriers intended to prevent precisely this kind of transaction.
The companies did not defend their conduct in court. The Jefferson Circuit Court entered a default judgment against Husky Armory and Up North Media in October 2025 after they failed to respond to the lawsuit. As a result, the trial was held solely to determine how much the companies should be required to pay. The jurors included in their verdict a punitive damages award of $100 million for the companies’ conduct. Punitive damages have the purpose of punishing defendants for their misconduct and deterring them and others from engaging in similar conduct in the future.
evading federal law
The kit sold to Henry contained a nearly finished Polymer80 pistol frame. According to the lawsuit, the frame was readily convertible into a working firearm and therefore subject to federal firearms laws. Kits like these were the subject of a 2022 ATF rule, which made clear that they are firearms subject to the same laws as any other guns. And indeed, the exact same unfinished frame that Henry purchased from Husky Armory was at the center of Bondi v. VanDerStok, the 2025 Supreme Court decision confirming the federal government’s authority to regulate the parts kits used to build ghost guns.
In that case, the Supreme Court rejected the gun industry’s argument that kits containing nearly complete frames and the components necessary to build a functioning weapon fell outside federal law simply because a purchaser was required to perform a limited amount of additional work in assembling the firearm. The ruling affirmed that qualifying ghost gun kits are regulated as firearms and that businesses engaged in selling them must obtain federal licenses, conduct background checks, and comply with all other federal requirements.
The verdict against Husky Armory illustrates the consequences of ghost gun companies disregarding federal firearms laws. The defendants did not merely sell isolated components that might someday be assembled into a firearm. They sold a kit that could quickly and easily be converted into a handgun while proudly advertising the absence of the very safeguards that ordinarily govern handgun sales.
The $104 million verdict against Husky Armory cannot return Henry to his family. But it’s a measure of accountability for companies that built their businesses around bypassing the laws governing firearms sales. The jury’s message was clear: When a company deliberately removes the barriers designed to keep guns away from underage and vulnerable purchasers, it will be held responsible for what happens next.