Families of Sandy Hook victims reached a $73 million settlement Tuesday in their lawsuit against Remington Arms, manufacturer of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle used to kill 20 kids and six staff members in the 2012 massacre.
The nine families brought a class-action suit in 2014 against Remington Arms, which made the weapon used in the mass shooting, claiming the gun-maker sought to sell the military-grade weapon to the mentally ill.
Remington had offered the families a $33 million settlement in July 2021, about $3.7 million per family, less than half of what ultimately will be doled out.
“Today is not about honoring our son Benjamin. Today is about how and why Ben died,” said Francine Wheeler, mother to 6-year-old Ben, who was killed in the massacre. “It is about what is right and what is wrong. Our legal system has given us some justice today, but David and I will never have true justice. True justice would be our fifteen-year-old healthy and here with us.”
Douglas Healey
AP
Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for victims, said Tuesday that the suit was just as much about greed as it was guns.
The lawyer said the settlement “should serve as a wake-up call not only to the gun industry, but also the insurance and banking companies that prop it up.”
“For the gun industry, it’s time to stop recklessly marketing all guns to all people for all uses and instead ask how marketing can lower risk rather than court it,” Koskoff said.
AP
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AP
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