Article

2022-02-16 -Great Cultural Revolution

Sandy Hook families reach settlement with gunmaker over school massacre

Setting a bad precedent, it seems to me.

[IsraelTimes] Families of nine victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting reach a $73 million settlement with US gunmaker Remington, in a landmark deal for a country plagued by campus massacres.

Twenty-six children and teachers were rubbed out at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, by 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza.

...autistic with anxiety and depression, the child of a single mother who quit teaching to take care of him as he became increasingly incapable of dealing with the outside world and a father who had recently taken a new wife.

A "settlement agreement has been executed between the parties," says a notice from lawyers for the families.

Lanza was a 20-year-old with known developmental disabilities who lived at home with his mother when he carried out the attack. His mother, a gun enthusiast, had bought him an AR-15-style Bushmaster XM15-E2S semi-automatic rifle more than two years before the shooting. Lanza murdered his mother before attacking the school, and killed himself afterward.

The lawsuit alleged that Remington and the other two defendants are culpable because they knowingly marketed a military-grade weapon that is "grossly unsuited" for civilian use, yet had become the gun most used in mass shootings.

"When it came to the military looking for the best weapon, the most lethal weapon, the most destructive weapon and the weapon that could provide our soldiers... they chose the AR-15," Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, tells a presser.

The same gun, he says, "was used not by a highly-trained soldier but by a deeply troubled kid, not on a battlefield abroad but in an elementary school at home, and not to preserve freedom, but to eviscerate them."

Posted by trailing wife 2022-02-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top

#1 "When it came to the military looking for the best weapon, the most lethal weapon, the most destructive weapon and the weapon that could provide our soldiers... they chose the AR-15," Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, tells a presser.

Seriously? Name one 'military' who uses the AR-15. You can't because only a fool would use the AR-15 in any 'military' organization. Not even Joe Biden himself is that stupid.

Posted by CrazyFool 2022-02-16 00:26|| 2022-02-16 00:26|| Front Page Top

#2 Car manufacturers and liqueur distillers take note.

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-02-16 06:49|| 2022-02-16 06:49|| Front Page Top

#3 BTW, what was the make and model of the vehicle used in the mass killing in Wisconsin? Asking for a friend.

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-02-16 06:50|| 2022-02-16 06:50|| Front Page Top

#4 It was a Ford Escape

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-16 06:52|| 2022-02-16 06:52|| Front Page Top

#5 From the New York Post: "Families of Sandy Hook victims settled their lawsuit Tuesday with Remington Arms, manufacturer of the AR-15 automatic gun used to kill 20 kids and 6 staff members in the 2012 massacre.
The nine families brought a class-action suit in 2014 against Remington Arms, which made the weapon used in the mass shooting claiming the gun-maker sought to sell the military-grade weapon to the mentally ill."
So much mis-information.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2022-02-16 07:09|| 2022-02-16 07:09|| Front Page Top

#6 of course, are there any real journalist anymore?

Posted by Chris 2022-02-16 08:07|| 2022-02-16 08:07|| Front Page Top

#7 Poor legal strategy by Remington. This settlement will cause problems for the gun industry for years.

Posted by Vespasian Ebboting9735 2022-02-16 09:06|| 2022-02-16 09:06|| Front Page Top

#8 IIRC - Remington was bankrupt financially, and now morally

Posted by Frank G 2022-02-16 10:09|| 2022-02-16 10:09|| Front Page Top

#9 Profiles in Stupidity. Gun grabbers rejoice.

Posted by Mercutio 2022-02-16 11:17|| 2022-02-16 11:17|| Front Page Top

#10 Lots of uninformed opinions flying around.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-16 13:21|| 2022-02-16 13:21|| Front Page Top

#11 Via Bearing Arms, the National Shooting Sports Foundation explains it was the insurance companies, not the defunct manufacturer:

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.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-02-16 13:23|| 2022-02-16 13:23|| Front Page Top

#12 military-grade weapon that is "grossly unsuited" for civilian use

That statement ought to be questioned (and it probably was.)

The kid was nutso (not because of autism.) More like the Virginia Tech shooter.

Posted by JohnQC 2022-02-16 13:45|| 2022-02-16 13:45|| Front Page Top

#13 Thank you, TW!

Posted by KBK 2022-02-16 17:27|| 2022-02-16 17:27|| Front Page Top

#14 Cashed in their lottery tickets.

Posted by Croque Fliting8030 2022-02-16 19:18|| 2022-02-16 19:18|| Front Page Top

09:11 Mercutio
09:07 AlmostAnonymous5839
08:52 Matt
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
07:42 Procopius2k
07:39 Procopius2k
07:36 Procopius2k
07:35 Procopius2k
07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker
07:03 NN2N1
06:58 NN2N1
06:58 Besoeker
05:28 Whiskey Mike
05:23 Whiskey Mike