The settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving a gun maker and relatives of mass shooting victims — but its significance goes beyond money. The legal agreement also offers an unusual step toward transparency.
The families of nine people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., announced Tuesday they had reached ain their lawsuit against Remington, the maker of the AR-15-style weapon the gunman used in the 2012 massacre.
The legal back and forth began in 2014, when nine families who lost loved ones in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that left 20 elementary school students and six teachers dead, argued in a lawsuit that the gun maker violated state consumer law. The company, they said, “knowingly” marketed the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle as “a military weapon designed to inflict mass casualties to an untrained civil population, specifically targeting violence-prone young men.
“After Dylan’s murder, I made a very early promise to do everything in my power to honor his short life by creating change that would save the lives of other children and prevent mass shootings like the one that destroyed our community,” Hockley said at a news conference. “This lawsuit has been part of that promise.”
The most immediate but broad consequence of the settlement is that legal claims based on consumer protection statutes can now potentially survive the PLCAA barrier, Feldman said. Many states and jurisdictions across the U.S. have similar consumer protection laws on the books, she noted, so the settlement potentially creates a template for holding gun manufacturers accountable.lawsuit,
Feuer said he particularly admired the Sandy Hook families for insisting Remington release internal documents that show how it marketed guns to the public. History has shown that release of such documentation in other industries, such as tobacco, and the potential threat of inside secrets being exposed has led to reforms. “This sends a very clear signal to industry and anti-gun violence advocates about the approach to take going forward.
“It has been hard to get gun manufacturers held responsible for a dime,” said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor. “While this isn’t a high amount, it‘s better than nothing and sets a precedent. The families here wanted a strong message sent to gun companies, and that is what they got here.”
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