Reactions To Sandy Hook Families’ Remington Settlement

The following reactions to the February 15 settlement between a group of Sandy Hook victims’ families and Remington Arms have been received for publication:

US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): “The Sandy Hook families are a profile in courage — and perseverance. This settlement sends a clear message to gun manufacturers that they will be held accountable for these weapons of war. No amount of money will ever bring back the beautiful lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School or erase the pain and trauma of this unspeakable tragedy. I think of those precious children and educators and their loved ones every day. Congress now must act to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act so that future victims of gun violence can also have their day in court and unlock the doors to justice without needing to overcome sweetheart protections that Congress has granted to the gun industry and only the gun industry.”

US Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT): “Thanks to the bravery and tireless work of these Sandy Hook families, Remington will be held accountable for their role in the Sandy Hook shooting. You can’t market weapons of war to the masses and claim to have no role in our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Today sends the clear message to the gun industry that the days of their near-total immunity from responsibility are over. This is a groundbreaking victory.”

Po Murray, chair, Newtown Action Alliance: “Finally, a gun manufacturer and their insurers have been held accountable for the gun violence crisis in our nation. No amount of settlement dollars will bring back the Sandy Hook families’ children and loved ones but their lawsuit against Remington has given other families of shooting victims some hope that they too can pursue justice in the courts.

“The families were interested in the discovery phase of the lawsuit to shed light on the gun industry’s dangerous marketing tactics that place profit over public safety. We hope that thousands of pages of internal company documents that proved Remington’s wrongdoing will be made public so that other gun manufacturers and their insurers and investors will learn important lessons and help us prevent future mass shootings and all forms of gun violence.

“AR15s are the weapons of choice for mass shooters. The gun industry and the gun lobby have worked for years to convince Americans that AR15s are ‘modern sport sporting rifles’ when in reality they are nothing more than weapons of war that are being used to hunt our children and loved ones in our schools, places of worship and other public places all across America. Recently, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) allowed a gunmaker to showcase JR-15s, AR15s made for children at its annual SHOT Show. Yesterday was the four-year mark of the Parkland school shooting tragedy, when a 19-year-old gunman used an AR15 to kill 17 students and teachers and injure 17 others. We know firsthand that one AR15 can cause significant damage to an entire community in a matter of minutes.

“In 2005, the National Rifle Association, NSSF, and the gun industry made passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) their number one priority. Since PLCAA was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2005, the gun manufacturers, dealers, and sellers of firearms or ammunition, as well as trade associations, have been vastly shielded from civil action for the use of their products. Thankfully, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) allowed the Sandy Hook families to pursue their lawsuit. We urge other states to pass Unfair Trade Protection laws. PLCAA continues to block the ability of families from many states to have their day in court; therefore we urge Congress to immediately repeal PLCAA.

“We also join plaintiffs’ attorney Josh Koskoff’s call for the nation’s insurers and bankers to reconsider doing business with the gun manufacturers who market and sell weapons of war. The $73 million settlement is the maximum coverage from Remington’s insurance carriers Liberty Mutual, James River, Chubb and Swiss Re. Insuring and investing in weapons of choice for mass shooters is an irresponsible business decision.

“We also call on Congress to ban weapons of war by passing Representative David Cicilline and Senator Diane Feinstein’s legislation to ban assault weapons.”

The Newtown-based National Sports Shooting Foundation (NSSF): “The decision to settle in the Soto v Bushmaster case was not made by a member of the firearms industry. The settlement was reached between the plaintiffs and the various insurance carriers that held policies with Remington Outdoor Company (ROC), which effectively no longer exists.

“As part of bankruptcy court proceedings, the assets of ROC were sold at auction in September of 2020. Remington Outdoor Company, which owned the Bushmaster brand, effectively ceased to exist as a going concern. The lawsuit, however, continued against the estate of the Remington Outdoor Company, essentially ROC’s insurers and their insurance policies in effect at the time.

“The settlement also does not alter the fundamental facts of the case. The plaintiffs never produced any evidence that Bushmaster advertising had any bearing or influence over Nancy Lanza’s decision to legally purchase a Bushmaster rifle, nor on the decision of murderer Adam Lanza to steal that rifle, kill his mother in her sleep, and go on to commit the rest of his horrendous crimes. We renew our sincere sympathy for the victims of this unspeakable tragedy and all victims of violence committed through the misusing of any firearm. But the fact remains that modern sporting rifles are the most popular rifle in America with over 20 million sold to law-abiding Americans and rifles, of any kind, are exceedingly rarely used in crime.

“The Connecticut Supreme Court wrote in its Soto v Bushmaster (4-3) opinion, “[T]he plaintiffs allege that the defendants’ wrongful advertising magnified the lethality of the Sandy Hook massacre by inspiring Lanza or causing him to select a more efficiently deadly weapon for his attack. Proving such a causal link at trial may prove to be a Herculean task.” NSSF believes the Court incorrectly allowed this one claim to go forward to discovery. We remain confident ROC would have prevailed if this case proceeded to trial.

“Finally, this settlement orchestrated by insurance companies has no impact on the strength and efficacy of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which remains the law of the land. PLCAA will continue to block baseless lawsuits that attempt to blame lawful industry companies for the criminal acts of third parties.”

CT Against Gun Violence, Inc: “CT Against Gun Violence applauds the news that after eight long years, families of the victims murdered at Sandy Hook School reached an unprecedented $73 million settlement with Remington Arms, manufacturer of the assault weapon the shooter used to kill 20 children and six educators. The agreement is reported to be the largest ever reached between a gun manufacturer and survivors of a mass shooting.

“No amount of money can repay the families for the losses they suffer, and that wasn’t their motivation. They wanted to hold the gun industry accountable for their unconscionable business practices that put profit over lives.

“In that they succeeded. Perhaps more important than the financial settlement was the potential to further expose the reckless practices of Remington: the settlement allows the families to publicly share the thousands of pages of documents obtained during discovery.

“CAGV applauds the families for their tenacity in holding the gun industry accountable, and commends their attorneys, led by Josh Koskoff, for the brilliant legal strategy that found a way around the PLCAA, which gives the gun industry virtually unlimited immunity against lawsuits. We’re thankful that Connecticut has a strong law protecting consumers against unfair trade practices; it’s what allowed the lawsuit to prevail.

“PLCAA was passed in 2005 by the Republican-controlled Congress, with support from Democrats, as a gift to the gun lobby. President George W. Bush signed the bill, remarking that it was necessary to ‘stem frivolous lawsuits.’

“There is nothing frivolous about holding the gun industry accountable for the thousands and thousands of lives taken by their products. For years, Senators Blumenthal and Murphy have called for the repeal of PLCAA; they have now been joined by President Biden.

“CAGV hopes that the settlement will make the gun industry think twice about how it glorifies its products of death. For decades Congressional allies of the gun lobby have put its profits, and unfettered access to guns, over the safety of Americans. Today the system worked. The merchants of death were held accountable.”

Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: Today, nine families of people shot and killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut, announced that they reached a $73 million settlement in their lawsuit against Remington, a gun manufacturer which made the firearm used in the shooting. As reported by The New York Times, the settlement ‘represents a significant setback to the firearm industry because the lawsuit, by employing a novel strategy, pierced the vast shield [the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA] enshrined in federal law protecting gun companies from litigation.’

“Congress may have wrongfully given the gun industry a shield against efforts to hold reckless actors accountable, but this settlement shows the shield is not impenetrable. This case is a wake-up call for the gun industry –—act recklessly and illegally, and you will be held accountable.

“Everytown Law has repeatedly called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Smith & Wesson’s advertising and promotion of its M&P line of assault rifles. Everytown’s argument cites substantial evidence that Smith & Wesson uses unfair and deceptive practices to market its rifles to young, male consumers.

“Furthermore, this past summer, New York enacted legislation which makes clear that gun companies that engage in dangerous conduct and thereby create a public nuisance in New York can be sued for it. The bill also requires all gun companies who do business in New York to put in place reasonable safeguards to prevent their guns from ending up in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, subjecting those who fail to do so to civil liability.”