BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – A lawsuit can go forward against the maker of the rifle used in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, a judge ruled Thursday.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis said that a 2005 federal law protecting gun-makers from lawsuits does not prevent lawyers for the victims’ families from arguing that the semi-automatic rifle is a military weapon and should not have been sold to civilians.
Lanza, 20, killed 20 first-grade students and six educators on Dec. 14, 2012 with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle that his mother had bought legally. Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home with a different gun before going to the school a few miles away, and then killed himself as police arrived.
The families of nine children and adults killed at the Newtown school and a teacher who survived the attack are suing Remington Arms, the parent company of Bushmaster Firearms, which made the weapon used in the school shooting.
Lawyers for Remington Arms sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the federal law shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products. They said Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act after determining such lawsuits were an abuse of the legal system.
Judge Bellis ruled Thursday that argument would be best made in a motion later in the process and is not grounds to dismiss the lawsuit.
Lawyers for Remington did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the families, argues there is an exception in the federal law that allows litigation against companies that know, or should know, that their weapons are likely to be used in a way that risks injury to others.
“We are thrilled that the gun companies’ motion to dismiss was denied,” he said. “The families look forward to continuing their fight in court.”
Debate over the 2005 law has resurfaced in this year’s presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton has criticized fellow Democrat Bernie Sanders’ for supporting it when it was passed.
You would think that this lawsuit could be easily beaten by simply proving that the shooting never occurred, but I doubt that a member of the B.A.R. association would ever go that route.
If you weren’t sure that our court system is a fraud, watch this case carefully.
Each year in the US, the number of people beaten to death with fists and feet exceeds the number murdered with rifles of any kind. Murders of innocent people with AR-15s are exceedingly rare in comparison with the number of those rifles in circulation. Suing a manufacturer or dealer for one of those murders is like suing a knife manufacturer for a stabbing death.
Besides, we have the right to own military weapons. That includes rifles that can fire in burst or auto mode, as useless as that feature generally is. We also have the right to own belt-fed weapons, anti-tank weapons, and anything else that would be useful for ensuring that ultimate power rests with the population rather than government.
Keep the eye on Bushmaster, they have a large obligation to move forward with a trial, so total full discovery of all “Physical” evidence (including Body exhumations) can be brought forward by the plaintiffs to prove that they even had these kids and that they in fact were killed by an Adam Lanza (if he existed) at The SHES on the date in question.
I’ll bet everything this is staged like so many other events, so, yes, let the lawsuit go forward, yes “Bushmaster” put some of the f’kn money we the people have spent with you towards exposing this fraud, and then, lets dismantle the entire corrupt system…..
A weary eye I’ll keep on Bushmaster,,,,and this “Case”…!!!!
I hope and pray Remington has the good sense to hire Jim Fetzer and Wolfgang Halbig and go ALL IN…my opinion is they will never let this lawsuit see the light of day. Remington most likely will whore out and cut a deal so they can keep their government contracts and bomb shelters.