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Everytown Statement on Connecticut Supreme Court Decision Allowing Lawsuit to Move Forward Against Manufacturers of Rifle Used in Sandy Hook Mass Shooting

3.14.2019

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety, the country’s largest gun violence prevention organization, released the below statement today after the Connecticut Supreme Court cleared the way for a lawsuit to proceed against the gun manufacturers who produced the rifle used to kill 20 school children and six educators at Sandy Hook School in 2012.

“This should be a wake-up call to the gun industry that it is not immune from accountability,” said Eric Tirschwell, litigation director at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Today is a major step forward for survivors and families seeking justice for reckless gun industry practices.”

The lawsuit was filed by families and a surviving teacher from Sandy Hook School. The Connecticut Supreme Court today allowed the suit to continue despite the broad civil immunity from lawsuits Congress gave the gun manufacturing industry in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005.

Unlike any other major industry, the gun industry is shielded by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act from accountability for business practices that directly threaten public safety and put American lives at risk. As a result, there has been no accountability to the industry for failing to make guns safer or for marketing weapons and hardware that have no place in the hands of civilians.