And they will not win.
Suing the gun manufacturer — any gun manufacturer — following a shooting is akin to suing the manufacturer of the tap that poured the beer that the intoxicated driver drank before plowing into your sister. Or the manufacturer of the automobile.
This all stems from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14th of 2012, where Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults. Lanza utilized the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle (see above), along with a Glock 20SF in 10mm and a Sig Sauer P226 in 9mm.
At his time of death (by suicide), 20-year-old Adam Lanza stood 6’0″ tall and weighed 112 pounds. That one stat bespeaks volumes. Adam Lanza killed his 52-year-old mother Nancy in their large and expansive home prior to leaving for the school. All the weapons used were purchased lawfully in the State of Connecticut.
Let me repeat that for the ignorant in the nation: all the weapons used by Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook were purchased lawfully in the State of Connecticut by Nancy Lanza.
Initially, from FoxNews.com:
Families of Newtown shooting victims sue gunmaker, seller
HARTFORD, Conn. – The families of nine of the 26 people killed and a teacher wounded two years ago at the Sandy Hook Elementary School filed a lawsuit Monday against the manufacturer, distributor and seller of the rifle used in the shooting.
The negligence and wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Bridgeport Superior Court, asserts that the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle should not have been made publicly available because it was designed for military use and is unsuited for hunting or home defense.
And, like every other media conglomeration in this nation and others, Fox have their facts wrong. The Bushmaster is not an AR-15. Bushmaster is owned by Remington (and moreover, by the Freedom Group Family of Companies) which does not manufacture the AR-15; Colt does.
“The AR-15 was specifically engineered for the United States military to meet the needs of changing warfare,” attorney Josh Koskoff said in a release. “In fact, one of the Army’s specifications for the AR-15 was that it has the capability to penetrate a steel helmet.”
In addition to Bushmaster, the defendants are Camfour, a firearm distributor, and Riverview Gun Sales, the East Windsor store where the gunman’s mother purchased the Bushmaster rifle in 2010.
Again, incorrect information. The Colt AR-15 was a derivative from the original Eugene Stoner design at ArmaLite (hence the AR in AR-15). The firearm and the round are separate.
The .223 round was truly a step down from the standard WWII rounds utilized in military rifles bored out, commonly, to .45 caliber in handguns, and to M-1 rifles in the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, the M-14 in .308 Winchester. The M-14, actually, is considered to be the “last” of the American battle rifles, because it fires full-power rifle ammunition and AR-15s and M-16s do not, but only offer the diminutive .223 (5.56mm) round.
Anyone doubting that a .308 round wouldn’t penetrate a helmet, much less a tree, much less a half-inch of sheet steel, should volunteer for target duty immediately.
Bill Sherlach, whose wife, Mary, was killed in the shooting, said he believes in the Second Amendment but also that the gun industry needs to be held to “standard business practices” when it comes to assuming the risk for producing, making and selling a product.
“These companies assume no responsibility for marketing and selling a product to the general population who are not trained to use it nor even understand the power of it,” he said.
I say to Bill: then apparently you don’t Grok the concept of placing even larger and more potent weapons into the hands of 15 and 16 and 17-year-olds who volunteered to support the US in WWII. Because they too cannot be trusted.
And to Bill: marketing and selling is regulated by not only the federal government, but the individual states. The weapons involved were purchased lawfully in the State of Connecticut. What part of that do you not understand, sir?
Bushmaster has already paid out. They should pay out no more.
[A small aside for those unfamiliar with the firearms industry in America: there are, to the best of my knowledge, at least seven firearms or firearms-associated manufacturers located — at least for a time — in the state of Connecticut, to include Smith & Wesson; Colt; Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Mossberg; Winchester; Remington; and Martin Firearms.]
I wrote about the Newtown shootings here and here.
And I also said this: I will never give up my Second Amendment. I will not give up my Second Amendment because of Newtown or Virginia or any other event. Twenty children died. But I will not give up my Second Amendment rights. I do this for the greater overarching picture. I am resolute.
I am resolute.
Perhaps John Stossel is correct:
These lawsuits are predicated but upon emotions only. They are not based upon logic because overall crime is down in the US and violent crime is down and gun crime is down.
And that is also despite the fact that my department recently lost Deputy Danny Oliver.
For those Leftists who read me, let’s see more of these signs:
BZ
Only one reason: because of pushback.
