A judge said Monday she plans to decide within 60 days whether a lawsuit filed by families of 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, against a gun manufacturer can continue.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis heard lawyers for Remington argue Monday that the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act grants gunmakers immunity from lawsuits related to injuries that result from criminal misuse of their product.
The lawsuit by the families argues that the way in which a company sells and markets a military-style weapon to the civilian market is a form of “negligent entrustment,” which is an exception to the immunity legislation.
If the judge rules in favor of the families, the case would move to a discovery, or fact-finding, phase, and one step closer to a possible trial.
“I’m going to hope that I can get the decision out in the 60 days,” Bellis told the lawyers.
Sandy Hook was the second-deadliest mass shooting in the United States, following the killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother and then drove to the school, where he used a Bushmaster AR-15 to shoot to death 20 children and six adults. Lanza, 20, killed himself as police approached.
Remington is the parent company of Bushmaster.