Preliminary Hearing In Sandy Hook Shooting Lawsuit

That lawsuit was filed by families of victims killed with a military-style weapon made by Remington in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

The two sides are in court this week.

He also said that Remington has targeted young men with these weapons and said they “taunt” people with the weapons, referencing marketing about “getting your man card reissued” by having one of the weapons. Named in the suit are Bushmaster, Camfour Firearm Distributors and Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor.

Other attempts to blame manufacturers for the illegal use of their products have largely failed in the past.

Exposing gunmakers to liability for tragic events such as Sandy Hook could cause irreparable harm to their companies. “Born out of the exigencies of combat, the AR-15 was engineered to deliver maximum carnage with extreme efficiency”, says the lawsuit of the families. That law is meant to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits when their products are used in criminal acts.

The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School had a huge impact on the national discourse and, to some extent, the electoral battlefield, but there’s another fight dragging on as a result of it. Some of the families who lost loved ones during the attack by a deranged madman filed a lawsuit as a result. They say the weapon that was used the shooting massacre was a military style weapon that should never have been sold to civilians. If the judge rules in favor of the families, the case would move to a discovery, or fact-finding, phase, and one step closer to a possible trial.

A motion to dismiss the case was filled by the gun companies, according to the plaintiff’s attorney.

The essence of the families’ case is that Bushmaster and the companies who distributed and sold the XM15-E2S had ample reason to know that flooding the civilian market with assault rifles carried unreasonable risks.

They say they’re protected by a 2005 federal law which shields the gun manufacturers from lawsuits when someone uses one of their guns in a crime.

This Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used in an attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.

“All we are asking is you apply the federal immunity statute as it is plainly written and not decide whether it reflects good policy or bad policy”, attorney James Vogts told state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis.

This appears to be the first time a lawsuit used the PLCAA exemption that companies should have known, as a basic fact, that certain weapons are a danger to others even if sold legally.

“What I’m hoping to do here”, he said, “is to pull that curtain back and peel the onion and take a look at what these guys have done to foster, to stoke the fires, to fuel the rage of these militaristic males to go and do what they do”.

Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed, said “this is a weapon designed for the military that has ended up in the public and we want them to be held accountable”.