Sandy Hook Lawsuit Against Bushmaster Moves Forward

To their credit (and not defending this tactic, which I agree is dumb), I think it's a war mentality now. Many of those people, including teachers who survived the massacre, have been trolled by nuts, constantly, for the last several years, that they don't think productive dialogue with the opposition is possible.

I'm talking about someone who survived that day and now deals with regular phone messages, internet messages, threatening her and calling the whole event "fake", etc. It's hard not to let that affect one's view of the possible climate for dialogue, even though it's representing just a (hopefully) tiny segment of the pro-gun voice. Sad.

 

Gun manufacturers have not broken any laws.

It's too bad congressmen aren't accountable for the laws that they pass and end up very badly for people.

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure I said exactly that and agreed with you.

I know it's impossible given the NRA clout nowadays, but if you want to exponentially decrease gun violence in America, there's 1, just 1, obvious place to start.

And it's not long rifles or shotguns or "assault rifles" or "tactical rifles" or whatever the hell they're calling them this week.

It's handguns.

 

Don't poke the bear and don't start a war you can't win.

I agree that the gun lobby is really powerful and because of that power has no reason to entertain opposition. I know it's tough to think this way but if you hate guns that much you probably should move to another country. I mean if it's that important to you, then you have to move. It will take many many years (several generations) for gun lobby and gun culture to weaken.

 

This shooting (and all such crimes) was obviously absolutely tragic and terrible, so I'm not going to talk about that as I don't think there's any sort of sane argument.

However, holding the gun company liable is ridiculous. I know that these people are looking for someone to blame, but it's the damn shooter, and the laws that led to his ability to get firearms. This is like the courts saying that Husky is liable because their hammer hurt my thumb.


Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims can sue gunmaker Remington over 2012 attack, court says


Fred Barbash
March 14 at 1:39 PM

Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle can be sued and potentially held liable in connection with the 2012 mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The groundbreaking 4-to-3 decision overturned a lower-court ruling barring the lawsuit, which was brought by the estates of nine victims of Adam Lanza, who was armed with the high-powered rifle during his assault on the school. Remington owns Bushmaster Firearms International.

The families argued, among other things, that the rifle’s manufacturer and distributor negligently allowed and encouraged civilians to use a weapon suitable only for military and law enforcement use.

The firearms company had convinced a lower court that a federal law enacted in 2005 limited the liability of firearms manufacturers and dealers, immunizing them entirely from legal responsibility for the acts of people using the weapons they sell.

[Democrats’ cautious strategy on gun control reflects limits of political change]

The Connecticut high court disagreed on extremely narrow grounds, treating it as a case of illegal advertising.


A fraternity of mass shooting survivors comes together

Survivors from school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Columbine High School speak with teachers after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

It said the suit, which seeks unspecified damages for each death, could go forward under that state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, a statute aimed at harmful marketing, in this case marketing not of the weapon itself but the use of the weapon as a potential tool for “offensive military style combat” by civilians, which is illegal.

Twenty first-grade children and six adults were killed and two others were wounded in the attack on Dec. 14, 2012. The Bushmaster that Lanza used had been sold to his mother, according to court documents.

“The number of lives lost in those 264 seconds was made possible by the shooter’s weapon of choice,” the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit. “Plaintiffs seek nothing more and nothing less than accountability” for Bushmaster’s choice to “continue profiting” from selling and marketing the weapon for civilian use, the suit said.

Among the allegations in the lawsuit was that the gun manufacturers and dealers knowingly marketed the weapon’s use to carry out deadly missions against “perceived enemies,” as the court said.

Such use of the Bushmaster or any weapon would be illegal, it added, and “Connecticut law does not permit advertisements that promote or encourage violent, criminal behavior.”

The federal law, called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, does immunize makers of firearms from liability for crimes committed by people using their weapons, the court agreed.

But it said that “we also conclude that Congress has not clearly manifested an intent to extinguish the traditional authority of our legislature and our courts to protect the people of Connecticut from the pernicious practices alleged in the present case.”

“The regulation of advertising that threatens the public’s health, safety, and morals has long been considered a core exercise of the states’ police powers,” the court ruled.

 

It's like suing Ford and Starbucks after an idiot in a Mustang loses control doing a burnout after the Cars and Coffee meet up and plows into the crowd.

 

Supreme Court says lawsuit can move forward.

 

Jack McCoy won the case on Law and Order, but the judge overruled the jury.

 

Matlock would have convinced the judge.