Gun-safety advocates hailed a judge’s ruling that victims’ families can sue the manufacturer of the military-style rifle used in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it was an “important win” for the Newtown families and other victims.
“They deserve their day in court and we are pleased that at least for now they’ll get it, despite the defendants’ best efforts to derail this case,” Gross said. “Victims of gun violence are not second-class citizens.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who became the state’s leading advocate for gun-control reforms after the Newtown school massacre, said firearms companies should not be allowed blanket immunity from wrongful-death lawsuits.
“I look at this as a moral victory,” Malloy said.
Gun makers, dealers and sellers had claimed the Newtown families did not have legal standing.
But Bellis ruled that the 2005 federal law shielding gun makers from liability does not override the claims by the Sandy Hook families that the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle is a military-style rifle that should never have been marketed to civilians.
