Remington

The families of nine Sandy Hook school shooting victims settled a lawsuit for $73 million on Tuesday against the maker of the AR-15-style rifle used in the ...

“Most of the country — or at least half the country — is not looking for ways to liberalize or open the door to litigation,” he said. The lawsuit contended that hypermasculine themes — including an advertisement with a photograph of the weapon and the slogan “Consider your man card reissued” — specifically appealed to troubled young men, like the Sandy Hook gunman, who was 20. But the National Shooting Sports Foundation argued that the lawsuit was trying to achieve “regulation through litigation.” In a 4-to-3 ruling, the justices ruled that the case could move ahead based on a state law regarding unfair trade practices. “It sends a powerful message to these executives — even with your special protections, you can and will be held accountable for gun violence,” he said. When President George W. Bush signed the legislation, he praised it as a necessary safeguard to “stem frivolous lawsuits.” Gun industry representatives said the settlement would not set a pattern. The financial settlement is being paid by insurance companies that had represented Remington, which is in bankruptcy. Even in a country where mass shootings had become a painfully common occurrence, the Sandy Hook massacre was a gut-wrenching moment because so many of the victims were so young. The families argued that Remington, the gunmaker, promoted sales of the weapon that appealed to troubled men like the killer who stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first graders and six adults. Legal experts stressed that not only have most federal gun control efforts failed, but federal immunity for gunmakers remains a formidable barrier to litigation. “It is hard to imagine an outcome that better accomplishes that goal.”

Firearms training unit Detective Barbara Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle on Jan. 28, 2013. It's the same make and ...

Now, that suit has come to a close. Two years later, relatives of victims sued the Remington Arms Co. in a Connecticut court. "For the gun industry, it's time to stop recklessly marketing all guns to all people for all uses and instead ask how marketing can lower risk rather than court it. For the insurance and banking industries, it's time to recognize the financial cost of underwriting companies that elevate profit by escalating risk. The gun-maker filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and its assets were sold off. The president also urged state and local lawmakers, lawyers and survivors of gun violence "to pursue efforts to replicate the success of the Sandy Hook families."