The lawyers for the gun maker and the families involved in the lawsuit are set to face the judge for a hearing. The lawmakers for the gun company are said to be asking a Connecticut judge to dismiss an alleged wrongful death court case filed by the families of the shooting victims.
According to Hartford Courant, the attorneys of the Sandy Hook, which made the rifle used for the killing of 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, are expected to seek for the dismissal of the court case filed by the families of the massacre victims. The lawyers claimed that the accusations and the lawsuit is a wrongful move by the families.
Freedom Group, which is the parent company of AR-15 maker Bushmaster Firearms, argued that the company is protected by a 2005 federal law. This allegedly makes gun manufacturers shielded from most court proceedings over criminal utilization of the guns.
The families are currently facing a tough battle against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which is the 2005 legislation that protects gun makers from being sued for criminal cases. But there is one exemption to the PLCCA that the lawyers for the families that they are trying to use so that the lawsuit could push through. It is the exception of negligent entrustment. The Los Angeles Times claimed that this exemption can leave the gun industry available for lawsuits when someone sold a gun to another person who they reasonably should have been identified that shouldn't own a gun.
The families of the children and adults who were killed by the shooting incident alleged that the Bushmaster AR-15 is very harmful if sold for public consumption. They claimed that they are suing the company under the exception to the 2015 law. "No lawsuit will ever bring back any of the 26 innocent lives that were stolen or bring peace to the families that will never recover from this," stated Nicole Hockley, a plaintiff whose first-grader son, Dylan, was killed by the massacre, as reported by the Sky News.
Meanwhile, if the case would be moved forward, the families could be allegedly allowed to look into marketing strategies used to sell the AR-15. But then, a ruling is not expected anytime soon.
