AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File
The families of nine victims in the Sandy Hook school massacre have settled their lawsuit against Remington Arms — the gunmaker of the rifle that was used in the 2012 mass shooting.
The settlement was for $73 million, the Associated Press reports. Four insurers for the gunmaker will cover the costs. It marks the first time a gunmaker has been held responsible for a mass shooting in the United States.
"The gun industry's protection is not bulletproof," Josh Koskoff, an attorney for the families, said at a news conference discussing the settlement. He added "this is not the end of times for the gun industry" while arguing for America's insurance companies to express more oversight over the gunmakers they work with.
Koskoff said the biggest feature of the settlement is not even the cash amount, but rather the "hundreds of thousands of documents" the families received through the discovery process that presumably details Remington's internal decisions about how to market and manufacture what became one of its best-selling products.
The families of victims of the shooting filed suit against Remington Arms in 2014 over its marketing of the Bushmaster rifle that was used by Adam Lanza to kill 26 young children and educators at the school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Remington took its legal fight over the situation all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2019, the high court declined to intervene after the Connecticut Supreme Court allowed the suit to proceed. Remington argued that 2005 federal law that offers sweeping liability protections to gun manufacturers and dealers. The Connecticut court found that the federal law did "not permit advertisements that promote or encourage violent, criminal behavior," NPR reported at the time.
Koskoff took reporters through a lengthy review of Bushmaster's marketing for the firearm Lanza later used in the massacre.
"They will tell you it's made for hunting, but where's the animal in all of this?" Koskoff said pointing to one ad. Another ad in the presentation depicted the firearm with a message to prospective buyers about their "man card."
"This is not marketing to the military. The military doesn't need 'man cards.'"
Activists have focused on opening gun makers to legal liabilities, and part of that effort is rooted in gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association's virtually unblemished success in stopping federal legislation that would renew limits on what firearms could be legally purchased.
Congress has been unable to even pass more limited legislation that would expand federal background checks.
Vice President Joe Biden led the Obama Administration's response to the Sandy Hook shooting that ran into intense opposition in 2013 when a collection of bipartisan proposals all failed on the Senate floor.
Insider previously reported on the "kinship and connection" Biden forged with many of the Sandy Hook families.
