Remington Arms Manufacturer Settles with Sandy Hook Victims
Remington Arms is set to pay $74 million to the families of nine Sandy Hook shooting victims. Source: US News
Nearly a decade ago, on December 14th, 2012 a school shooter (whose name will be intentionally omitted) entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and used Remington’s Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle outfitted with a high-capacity magazine to murder staff and students. 26 lives were lost including 6 staff members and 20 students, constituting one of the deadliest school shootings in history.
On the 14th of February, a $74 million settlement was agreed upon between Remington and a group of nine families whose children died in the Sandy Hook shooting. The lawsuit began in 2015 with the plaintiffs arguing that Remington had violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) through their marketing of guns to at-risk male youth. Typically gun manufacturers enjoy protection from civil litigation due to the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), but the PLCAA stipulates that immunity is mitigated when a manufacturer “knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product.” According to Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong, he concurs that CUTPA was “designed to protect against these kinds of harmful commercial activities” and that “gun manufacturers must be held accountable just like any other manufacturer of a consumer product for actions that violate Connecticut law and harm the public,” which is the basis for Remington’s violation of PLCAA.
Currently, it is unclear if the shooter himself was influenced by advertisements Remington released, but the families’ attorney, Josh Koskoff, explains that the terms of settlement allow for the release of countless documents. He asserts that the families “can make public thousands of pages of internal company documents that prove Remington's wrongdoing and carry important lessons for helping to prevent future mass shootings.”
This settlement constitutes a long-awaited victory for the families of victims. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, President Obama’s administration attempted to use the power of the White House to institute gun reform. In coordination with President Obama, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, which would have prohibited the sale or possession of 150 specific firearms along with making magazines that held more than 10 rounds of ammunition illegal. This measure failed in the Senate with a final 60-40 vote. A bipartisan bill, negotiated by Senator Joe Manchin (D) and Senator Pat Toomey (R), called the Manchin-Toomey Proposal, sought to mandate criminal background checks on all firearm purchases either online or in person. However, this similarly failed to meet the Senate’s 60 vote threshold with only 54 Senators casting ‘yeas’; similarly a provision to limit the sale of high capacity magazines failed with only 54 affirmative votes.
While the political climate surrounding gun control legislation remains deeply divided, this settlement constitutes a historic utilization of existing law to hold gun manufacturers accountable. The families are hoping that this settlement will send a message to gun manufacturers’ banks and their insurers, illustrating that improper behavior is expensive; by placing pressure on banks and insurers the hope is that gun manufacturers will make their practices safer and correspondingly save lives.
The parents explain: “What is lost remains lost. However, the resolution does provide a measure of accountability in an industry that has thus far operated with impunity. For this, we are grateful."