A major defeat for America’s firearms industry
For gun control advocates, the Sandy Hook settlement represents a rare and historic victory.
The families of nine people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, announced Tuesday they had reached a $73 million settlement in their lawsuit against Remington, the maker of the AR-15-style weapon the gunman used in the 2012 massacre.
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: It requires Remington Arms Co., America’s oldest gun manufacturer, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, to release thousands of pages of internal company documents, including marketing plans.
“This case was never about damages in the sense of compensation,” Josh Koskoff, the families’ lead attorney, said in a Tuesday news conference. “It was about damages in the sense of forcing change. It was about damages in the sense of realizing the goals of these families, to do whatever they can to prevent the next Sandy Hook.”
For the firearms industry, the settlement is a major defeat that opens up the prospect of further litigation. For 17 years, gun makers have faced almost unique immunity from lawsuits thanks to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA, a sweeping 2005 federal law championed by the National Rifle Association and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when their products are used in deadly crimes.