Sandy Hook suit ruling opens new firearm front

Case still a long shot, but justices give it air

A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has upended a long-standing legal roadblock that has given the gun industry far-reaching immunity from lawsuits in the aftermath of mass killings.

This week, the court allowed families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre to sue the maker of the AR-15 used in the attack. The case against Remington will now proceed in the Connecticut courts.

Remington is widely expected to win the case, but critics of the gun industry are eyeing what they see as a significant outcome even in the face of defeat : getting the gunmaker to open its books about how it markets firearms.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are certain to request that Remington turn over volumes of documents as part of the discovery phase, providing a rare window into the inner workings of how a major gun manufacturer markets its weapons.

The case hinges on Connecticut state consumer law that challenges how the firearm used by the Newtown shooter, a Bushmaster XM15E2S rifle, was marketed. Plaintiffs allege that Remington purposely used advertisements that targeted younger, at-risk males.

Larry Keane, senior vice president and legal counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gunmakers, said that he expects Remington to prevail and that it’s unfair to blame the gunmaker for Adam Lanza’s crime.

Suing the firearms industry has never been easy, and it was made even harder after Congress enacted the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005. The law, backed by the National Rifle Association, gave broad immunity to the gun industry.

Judges and juries generally have a tough time blaming anyone but the shooter for the crime, said Timothy D. Lytton, professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law and author of “Suing the Gun Industry: A Battle at the Crossroads of Gun Control and Mass Torts.”

Add into the mix that Lanza himself didn’t own the firearm. He stole it from his mother after killing her in the home they shared, then went to the elementary school in Newtown, where he killed 20 children and six adults.

AR-platform long guns have been a particular bone of contention for gun-control advocates who believe the firearms are especially attractive to mass shooters for their ease of use and their ability to carry large-capacity magazines.

While handguns remain used more often in mass shootings, ARs have been involved in some of the deadliest shootings, including when a gunman fired on a crowd of concertgoers outside his hotel room in Las Vegas in 2017, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds.