After doing more research on the lawsuit the parents of Sandy Hook victims settled with Remington for $73 million, I am even more concerned about the future of the 2nd amendment. While the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act protects gun manufacturers from liability lawsuits when their guns are used in crimes, states, like Connecticut have passed laws targeting how gun manufacturers market their products and this is how the parents were able to sue Remington the maker of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S Adam Lanza used to killed 20 children inside the Sandy Hook school. The parents claimed that Remington markets a weapon used by the military and targeted teenage boys. As evidence they claimed Remington allowed their guns to be used in violent video games, like Call of Duty.
This is an absurd argument. There is no evidence that Remington allowed their gun to be depicted in any video games for the purpose of getting teenage boys to buy them. Further, there is no evidence that doing so makes boys commit mass murders. And what of the video game makers? They share no liability if these claims against Remington are true?
No evidence was presented that Lanza ever saw any of Remington's marketing materials. But more importantly, Lanza did not purchase the gun himself. It was his mother's gun, as was the Glock and Sig he carried with him into the school. The guns were taken from his mother whom he killed with a .22 caliber rifle in their home. There was literally 0 evidence linking Remington's marketing to Lanza's decision to use his mother's gun to shoot up an elementary school.
This case never should have gone to trial. In fact, the lower courts in Connecticut threw the case out and only an appeal to the state Supreme Court allowed the case to go forward. Remington filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court which refused to hear their appeal.
Throughout the case, the Sandy Hook parents argued that the Bushmaster XM15 never should have been sold to the public. Their legal team made this point repeatedly during the case but continued to claim it was really about the misrepresentations in their marketing materials.
Remington settled for $73 million because that is the maximum amount their insurance companies will pay. Even though Remington has declared bankruptcy the insurance companies are still on the hook for the payment.
Why did Remington settle? That is a good question. The parents claim that in discovery they found many emails that somehow show Remington's culpability in mash shootings. We'll have to see what they mean when the materials are released. Some speculate that Remington settled because they would have been required to open up their company to even more discovery which could have proved embarrassing for them.
But the damage is done. The lawyers for the parents left the courtroom claiming this case had set the precedent and blueprint for how to bring down every gun manufacturer. As we speak there are dozens of other lawsuit in the courts claiming the gun makers are responsible for almost every kind of murder committed with one of their weapons. Even Mexico is suing Smith and Wesson claiming they are responsible for the violence in Mexico!
You can see where all this is going and we are watching it happening. The stakes in the 2022 mid-terms could not be higher.
