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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 16 February 2022
Sandy Hook families settle for $73M with gun maker Remington

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) the lawsuit should have
— The families of nine vic- been dismissed because of
tims of the Sandy Hook El- the federal law that gives
ementary School shooting broad immunity to the gun
announced Tuesday they industry. The Connecticut
have agreed to a $73 mil- Supreme Court ruled Rem-
lion settlement of a lawsuit ington could be sued un-
against the maker of the der state law over how it
rifle used to kill 20 first grad- marketed the rifle, under
ers and six educators in an exception to the feder-
2012. al law. The gun maker ap-
The case was watched pealed to the U.S. Supreme
closely by gun control ad- Court, which declined to
vocates, gun rights sup- hear the case.
porters and manufacturers, Whether similar lawsuits
because of its potential to can proceed against gun
provide a roadmap for vic- makers remains unsettled
tims of other shootings to because the U.S. Supreme
sue firearm makers. Court has not yet weighed
The families and a survi- in on the exception to the
vor of the shooting sued 2005 immunity law used by
Remington in 2015, saying the Sandy Hook families,
the company should have Lytton said.
never sold such a danger- Remington, one of the na-
ous weapon to the public. Families of the victims of the Newtown shooting and attorneys listen during a news conference in tion's oldest gun makers
They said their focus was Trumbull, Conn., Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. founded in 1816, filed for
on preventing future mass Associated Press bankruptcy for a second
shootings by forcing gun The settlement is not the first time in 2020 and its assets
Driver found with bomb- companies to be more re- between victims and a gun were later sold off to sev-
sponsible with their prod-
manufacturer. Families of eral companies. The man-
making materials at ucts and how they market eight victims of the Wash- ufacturer was weighed
them.
ington, D.C.-area snipers down by lawsuits and retail
California base At a news conference, won a $2.5 million settle- sales restrictions following
some of the parents behind ment in 2004, with $550,000 the school shooting.
the lawsuit described a bit- coming from Bushmaster Adam Lanza, the 20-year-
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) told the San Diego Union- tersweet victory. Firearms Inc. and the rest old gunman in the Sandy
— The main entrance to Tribune. The search "Nothing will bring Dylan from the gun dealer. But Hook shooting, used the
North Island Naval Air Sta- turned up bomb-making back," said Nicole Hock- Lytton said the impact of rifle made by Remington
tion near San Diego was materials that were not ley, whose 6-year-old son the Sandy Hook settlement and legally owned by his
closed Tuesday after a assembled into any kind was killed in the shooting. could be greater because mother to kill the children
motorist was found with of device, Dixon said. Of- "My hope for this lawsuit," it is so much higher. and educators on Dec. 14,
bomb-making materi- ficials detained the driver she said, "is that by facing The civil court case in Con- 2012, after having killed his
als, a military spokesman in for questioning, the and finally being penalized necticut focused on how mother at their Newtown
said. Union-Tribune said. for the impact of their work, the firearm used by the home. He then used a
The vehicle approached Entry to the base was still gun companies along with Newtown shooter — a handgun to kill himself as
the gate at about 9 a.m. available through two the insurance and banking Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle police arrived.
and was stopped and other gates. industries that enable them — was marketed, alleging Lanza's severe and deterio-
searched at the request Naval Air Station North will be forced to make their it targeted younger, at-risk rating mental health prob-
of Naval Criminal Inves- Island is one of eight U.S. practices safer than they've males in advertising and lems, his preoccupation
tigative Service officials, military installations that ever been, which will save product placement in vio- with violence and access
Naval Base Coronado make up Naval Base lives and stop more shoot- lent video games. In one of to his mother's weapons
spokesman Kevin Dixon Coronado.q ings." Remington's ads, it features "proved a recipe for mass
Gun rights groups said the the rifle against a plain murder," according to Con-
settlement will have little ef- backdrop and the phrase: necticut's child advocate.
fect on rifle sales and gun "Consider Your Man Card Messages seeking com-
makers, who continue to Reissued." ment were left for Reming-
be shielded from liability in As part of the settlement, ton and its lawyers Tuesday.
most cases under federal Remington also agreed to The National Shooting
law. But some experts said allow the families to release Sports Foundation, a New-
it may prompt insurers to numerous documents they town-based group that
pressure gun makers into obtained during the law- represents gunmakers, said
making some changes. suit including ones showing courts should not have al-
"We might expect to see how it marketed the weap- lowed the case to proceed
increased pressure from in- on, the families said. It's not and it believes the plaintiffs
surance companies for gun clear when those docu- would have lost at trial. It
manufacturers to avoid the ments will be released. also said the settlement
kind of either design choic- Remington had argued should have no effect on
The U.S. Navy Aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) es or marketing practices there was no evidence to the The Protection of Law-
left, and USS Nimitz (CVN-68) are seen docked at Naval Air that gave rise to this litiga- establish that its marketing ful Commerce in Arms Act,
Station North Island in San Diego Bay, on Sunday, Jan. 21, tion," said Timothy D. Lytton, had anything to do with the 2005 federal law that
2007.
Associated Press a law professor at Georgia the shooting. shielded gun makers from
State University. The company also had said liability.q