While lawsuits against the firearm industry used to be common, a 2005 federal law brought the legal strategy to a near-complete halt for years. Thebarred civil lawsuits against gun companies, except in a handful of cases.
A growing number of lawmakers and victims of gun violence have pursued strategies to circumvent the federal law in recent years. In February, the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims settled with the gun manufacturer Remington, after arguing that the company’s marketing strategy broke Connecticut law. That settlement, though short of a guilty verdict at trial, has been deemed a turning point by.
“It becomes sort of this vague determination of bad public policy principles,” Amy Swearer, a legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Gothamist when discussing different plaintiffs’ strategies to hold the firearm industry accountable after the subway shooting victim filed her lawsuit.
“You’re essentially arguing that even though you advertised the gun in a lawful way, you did it in an immoral way, and therefore somehow this induced people to buy the gun, to use it to attack civilians, and now you’re responsible,” she said.
Ridiculous.