Sandy Hook shooting lawsuit against AR-15 in court today

A Connecticut judge is hearing arguments today to decide whether the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school tragedy can sue the maker of the AR-15 rifle that was used in the 2012 massacre.

JudgeBarbaraBellisofState Superior Court in Bridgeportheard fromlawyers on both sides of the high-profile case. Some of the families of the 26 victims of AdamLanza'skillingspreeat Sandy Hook Elementary School inNewtownare seeking to use an obscure clause in U.S. law to sue the maker of the weapon he used to killthem, the AR-15 rifle.

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The defendants areRemington, which makes the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, and Camfour, the company that distributes it. Also named isRiverviewSales Inc., the now-defunct gun storethat sold the weapon to Nancy Lanza in 2010. Her sonkilled her first on the day of the massacre to obtain access to her AR-15, which he used in the school shooting.

Thegunmaker'slawyer, JamesVogts,told the court Monday that the case against Bushmaster is an overreach.

"The plaintiffs are expanding a negligent entrustmentaction in ways nocourt in this country has ever recognized," he toldBellis. The case is trying to make it so "that a product manufacturer twoor threesteps removed from a retail sale can be held liable,"Vogtsadded.

JoshuaKoskoffofKoskoff,Koskoff&Bieder, the lawyer in charge of the Sandy Hook case,argued the lawsuit is on solid ground, and added that theanalogy to the automotive industry is a fair one.

"An AR-15 is to a firearm what a tank is to a car," he told the court. "And what happens when automobiles get sued for their instruments being defective?They change, andthey make them safer.

"How many massacres will it takeuntil somebody saysit's just not worth it any more."

Similar lawsuits have fallen short

The families launched their caseagainst the gun companies in December 2014, trying to hold them liable for the bloodshed.

"Because our country cannot come together on the issues of assault rifles, these mass shootings will continue to happen," said Matthew Soto, the brother of Victoria Soto, a teacher at the school who was gunned down that fateful day.

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Similar lawsuits to hold weaponsmakers liable for damagehave fallen short because ofa 2005 lawthat saysmakers, distributors and sellers of gunscannot be held liablefor any damages "resulting from the misuse of their products by others."

But this suitseeks to get around that law through a loophole in the legislation that negates it if there isdeemed to be "negligent entrustment" a legal term that essentially means there was negligence in sellingan inappropriate product to improper customers.

"The theory of negligent entrustmentboils down tocarelessly putting a dangerous instrumentintothe handsof someone likely to use it dangerously," Heidi LiFeldman, aGeorgetown UniversityLaw Center,said in an interview.

'America's gun'

The AR-15 is similar to the weapons-gradeM-16used by the U.S. army, and the lawyer in charge of the Sandy Hook case argues in legal briefs that the twoare weapons of war and thus inappropriate for civilians.

"The AR-15 was engineered to deliver maximum carnage with extreme efficiency," Koskoffargues in court filings.

"The AR-15 was designed as a militaryweapon,butthere is one civilian activity in which the AR-15 reigns supreme:mass shootings."

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Recent history backs that up. The AR-15 has been the weapon of choice for domestic mass shootings in recent years, as itwas also used inthe Aurora movie theatre shooting andthe San Bernardino shooting. (It's believed last week's slaying of 49 people at a gay-friendly night club in Orlando, Fla., involveda similar weapona semi-automaticSigSauerMCX.)

The AR-15 is capable of firing hundreds ofbulletsper minute, butthe company's marketing material is based on the notion of self-defence, and targets male buyers with testosterone-laden imagery.

"You see references to how this gun can help you get your man down,"Feldmansaid, adding that the National Rifle Associationlikes to call the AR-15 "America's gun."

Yet "gun manufacturers want to say 'this is my business, no differentfromsomebody who makes cars,'"Feldmansaid.

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Precedent-setting case

Bellis's decision onwhether the families' case can proceed to trial in 2018 isn't expected until later this fall. When court was adjourned Monday, the judge declined to say how long it would take for her to return with her decision.

But just getting this far in court proceedings has control advocates hoping for the moral victory offorcing the companies involved to present evidence such as internal memos evidence which was crucial in the turning the tide of lawsuits against cigarette makers in favour of the plaintiffs,Feldmansaid.

"This is an important win for 10 families who have already been through more than most of us could ever imagine," said Dan Gross, president of theBrady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, an anti-gun group named after the White House press secretary who was permanently disabled by a gunshot in the assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

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"They deserve their day in court and we are pleased that at least for now they'll get it, despite the defendants' best efforts to derail this case," Gross said.

Feldmansays the plaintiffs' case"is still a long shot," but"whichever way itgoes, the progress madeso far will motivate committed plaintiffs" to come forward with similar lawsuits tied to other shootings.

"If the lawsuit proceeds,"Feldmansaid, "anyone who makes a gun with those qualities would be worried."