Failed American weapons company Remington, which produced the rifle used in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School (Connecticut, USA), will pay $73 million to the families of the victims. CNN reports this.
Police outside Sandy Hook High School. Photo: Creative Commons
Remington, its four insurers and the families of those killed reached a settlement seven years after the lawsuit was filed. The plaintiffs argued that the company should be held accountable for such tragedies because of its violent marketing strategy. This is the first such decision since 2005, when a federal law was passed protecting gun manufacturers from liability for their illegal use.
Families will also have access to and distribution of all internal company materials, family representatives said in a press release. These documents prove the company's wrongdoing and may help prevent similar tragedies in the future.
«This landmark, historic victory sends a powerful and compelling message to manufacturers and the insurance and banking industries that support them: This is a market with high level of risk, it is not profitable, and you will be held accountable,” said Nicole Hockley, who lost her son Dylan in a mass shooting.
In turn, the parents of another deceased, six-year-old boy Noah, said that their loss is “irreversible, and in this sense the result is neither redemptive nor restorative”