Police Officer Thomas Delahanty was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. with a Röhm revolver during his failed assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. Delahanty later sued Röhm with the argument that small, cheap guns have no purpose except for crime, and thus that the company should be held responsible. The suit was subsequently rejected by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in a suit that has served as case law for other similar product liability cases.