Supreme Court Allows Sandy Hook Relatives to Sue Gun Maker

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would not hear an appeal in a case seeking to pierce firearm manufacturers’ legal immunity in the aftermath of shootings, allowing relatives of victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School to sue Remington Arms Co., maker of the rifle used there, in Connecticut courts.

The case, Remington Arms Co. v. Soto, was brought by relatives of those killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 first graders and six educators.

The lawsuit challenges a 2005 federal law protecting gun makers from legal liability when their weapons are used in crimes. The families argue that Remington violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act by recklessly marketing the rifle to disturbed young men like the Sandy Hook gunman through product placement in violent video games and advertising pitches like “consider your man card reissued.”