Trial For Newtown Families’ Lawsuit Against Gun-Maker Set For 2018

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in ... FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. Lawyers for the company that made the rifle Lanza used at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 are expected to ask a Connecticut judge Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by families of some of the massacre victims. Freedom Group, the Madison, North Carolina parent company of AR-15 maker Bushmaster Firearms, says it’s protected by a 2005 federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) MORE LESS
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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A judge has set a 2018 trial date in the lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

The families of nine of the people killed in the December 2012 massacre and a teacher who survived the attack are suing Remington Arms, the parent company of Bushmaster Firearms.

The judge Tuesday set the trial date for April 3, 2018.

The judge last week ruled that a 2005 federal law protecting gun-makers from lawsuits does not prevent lawyers for the victims’ families from arguing that the semi-automatic rifle is a military weapon and should not have been sold to civilians.

The Sandy Hook gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle that his mother had bought legally.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Unfortunately, this suit is DOA.
    Wish it were otherwise, but that’s pretty much established law.
    Vote out the gop and let’s get some meaningful gun regulation.

  2. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    Can SCOTUS rule on the constitutionality of that particular law? If not, why not?

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