A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit brought by the family of Kate Steinle alleging the U.S. government was negligent in her 2015 shooting death because a federal officer left the gun that killed her vulnerable to theft. “A handgun is indisputably capable of inflicting serious injury and damage – as a deadly weapon, that is its very purpose,” U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Spero wrote in a 49-page decision.