Sandy Hook families reach $73 million settlement with Remington: The case, its significance in battle against gun violence explained

The families of nine victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have agreed to a $73 million settlement of a lawsuit against the rifle-maker that made the weapon used to kill 20 students and six teachers in 2012.

As per a BBC report, this is the first time a gunmaker, Remington Arms, has faced liability for an incident of mass shooting.

The case was watched closely by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and manufacturers because of its potential to provide a roadmap for victims of other shootings to sue the makers of firearms.

The victims’ families and a survivor sued Remington in December 2014, arguing the company shouldn’t have sold such a dangerous weapon to the public and said their focus was on preventing future mass shootings.

Let’s find out what was the Sandy Hook mass shooting, how badly mass shootings have affected the US and other such incidents:

What was the Sandy Hook massacre

On 14 December 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a Remington rifle owned by his mother to kill 20 children aged between six and seven years, six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, US.

Before leaving for the school, Lanza had killed his mother at their Newtown home. Later, he used a handgun to kill himself as police arrived at the scene.

Lanza’s severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother’s weapons “proved a recipe for mass murder,” according to Connecticut’s child advocate.

It is the second deadliest school shooting in the US.

The lawsuit against Remington

Since a 2005 federal law gives broad immunity to gun manufacturers from wrongful death lawsuits, the families of the victims took a different approach to sue Remington Arms.

In December 2014, the families of nine victims filed a class-action lawsuit against Remington alleging that the rifle used in the massacre, XM15-E2S, is suitable only for military and policing applications but the company inappropriately marketed it to civilians.

A Connecticut law prevents deceptive marketing practices.

According to CNN, the US Supreme Court in 2019 decided not to take up an appeal by Remington, effectively allowing the suit to move forward.

Remington, one of the nation’s oldest gun makers founded in 1816, filed for bankruptcy for a second time in 2020 and its assets were later sold off to several companies. The manufacturer was weighed down by lawsuits and retail sales restrictions following the school shooting.

In July 2021, Remington offered nearly $33 million to nine families in the proposed lawsuit settlement.

According to the plaintiffs’ attorney Koskoff’s law firm, Remington’s four insurers have all agreed to pay the full amount of coverage available, which is the $73 million total. The gun-maker filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and its assets were sold off.

The settlement is being seen as a “measure of accountability in an industry that has thus far operated with impunity”.

“Our loss is irreversible, in the sense this outcome is neither redemptive nor restorative,” Lenny Pozner and Veronique De la Rosa, whose six-year-old son Noah was killed, wrote in testimony released after the settlement.

“What is lost remains lost, however, the resolution does provide a measure of accountability in an industry that has thus far operated with impunity,” they said, as quoted by the BBC.

It is also quite likely that this settlement may encourage victims or their families to come forward in other mass shooting cases to file similar lawsuits.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Koskoff showed an image of a rifle along with the words “consider your man card reissued”. The lawsuit against Remington had alleged that the campaign formed part of a larger and “aggressive” marketing effort that included product placement in video games.

“This victory should serve as a wake up call, not only to the gun industry, but also the insurance and banking companies that prop it up. For the insurance and banking industries, it’s time to recognise the financial cost of underwriting companies that elevate profit by escalating risk,” Koskoff said.

America’s gun violence

Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually.

In 2020, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention {CDC}. Providing a break-up, the CDC said that in 2020, 54 per cent of all gun-related deaths in the US were suicides (24,292), while 43 per cent were murders (19,384), according to the CDC.

The remaining gun deaths that year were unintentional (535), involved law enforcement (611) or had undetermined circumstances (400).

The 45,222 total gun deaths in 2020 were by far the most on record, representing a 14 per cent increase from the year before, a 25 per cent increase from five years earlier and a 43 per cent increase from a decade prior.

With inputs from agencies

Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .