The families of Sandy Hook victims settled Tuesday with gun manufacturer Remington for $73 million, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney, Josh Koskoff.
The surviving family members of five children and four adults killed in the 2012 shooting brought the lawsuit against Remington for its production and marketing of the Bushmaster AR-15. Koskoff said, “it is hard to imagine an outcome that better accomplishes” the families’ goal of preventing “the next Sandy Hook.”
Koskoff criticized Remington for purposefully targeting the military-grade weapon to young men. In a press conference, he said the company tapped into young men’s insecurities and anxieties about their masculinity and strength through marketing like their “man card” campaign. In one commercial, Remington mocked a man, “Jeff,” who would stay “at home to watch Mamma Mia with his Fiancee instead of coming to poker night with the boys.” Young men could report their weak friends like “Jeff” to Remington. Remington released advertisements saying men could have their man cards “reissued” by buying an AR-15. Koskoff also noted that other companies, like Smith and Wesson, followed Remington’s marketing.
The suit initially got off to a rocky start with the Connecticut Superior Court dismissing it in October 2016, but the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned that decision in a narrow 4-3 decision in 2019 upon appeal.
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter Jaime in the 2018 Parkland shooting, said he is “truly thankful” for the settlement and said he looks forward to his “day of accountability” with gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on the matter saying the settlement begins “the necessary work of holding gun manufacturers accountable for manufacturing weapons of war and irresponsibly marketing these firearms.” Biden restated his position that Congress should repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act so that more gun manufacturers can be held accountable. According to the president, gun manufacturers “must either change their business models to be part of the solution for the gun violence epidemic, or they will bear the financial cost of their complicity.”
Remington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020.
