Newtown Action Alliance Statement on Remington’s $73 Million Settlement with the Sandy Hook Families
For Immediate Release:
February 15, 2022
Newtown Action Alliance Statement on Remington’s $73 Million Settlement
with the Sandy Hook Families
Calls on Nation’s Insurers and Investors to Stop Doing Business with
Manufacturers of Weapons of War
Calls on Congress to Repeal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
and Ban Assault Weapons
Newtown, CT- Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance released the following statement:
“Finally, a gun manufacturer and its insurers have been held accountable for the gun violence crisis in our nation. No amount of settlement dollars will bring back the Sandy Hook families’ children and loved ones but their lawsuit against Remington has given other families of shooting victims some hope that they too can pursue justice in the courts.
“The families were interested in the discovery phase of the lawsuit to shed light on the gun industry’s dangerous marketing tactics that place profit over public safety. We hope that thousands of pages of internal company documents that proved Remington's wrongdoing will be made public so that other gun manufacturers and their insurers and investors will learn important lessons and help us prevent future mass shootings and all forms of gun violence.
“AR15s are the weapons of choice for mass shooters. The gun industry and the gun lobby have worked for years to convince Americans that AR15s are ‘modern sport sporting rifles’ when in reality they are nothing more than weapons of war that are being used to hunt our children and loved ones in our schools, places of worship and other public places all across America. Recently, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) allowed a gunmaker to showcase JR-15s, AR15s made for children at its annual SHOT Show. Yesterday was the four-year mark of the Parkland school shooting tragedy, when a 19-year-old gunman used an AR15 to kill 17 students and teachers and injure 17 others. We know firsthand that one AR15 can cause significant damage to an entire community in a matter of minutes.
“In 2005, the National Rifle Association, NSSF, and the gun industry made passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) their number one priority. Since PLCAA was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2005, the gun manufacturers, dealers, and sellers of firearms or ammunition, as well as trade associations, have been vastly shielded from civil action for the use of their products. Thankfully, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) allowed the Sandy Hook families to pursue their lawsuit. We urge other states to pass Unfair Trade Protection laws. PLCAA continues to block the ability of families from many states to have their day in court therefore we urge Congress to immediately repeal PLCAA.
“We also join plaintiffs' attorney Josh Koskoff’s call for the nation's insurers and bankers to reconsider doing business with the gun manufacturers who market and sell weapons of war. The $73 million settlement is the maximum coverage from Remington's insurance carriers Liberty Mutual, James River, Chubb and Swiss Re. Insuring and Investing in weapons of choice for mass shooters is an irresponsible business decision.
“We also call on Congress to ban weapons of war by passing Representative David Cicilline and Senator Diane Feinstein’s legislation to ban assault weapons.”
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Newtown Action Alliance (http://alliance.newtownaction.org/) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Our mission is to achieve the steady and continuous reduction of gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.