Gun manufacturer Remington Arms has been held liable and ordered to pay $AU102 million in compensation to the families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre – five adults and four children.
This is the first time a gun maker has been held liable for a mass shooting in the U.S.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre took place in 2012. A 20-year-old shooter shot and killed 20 children between the ages of six and seven, as well as six adult staff members. It is the fourth deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
The nine families who will receive compensation sued Remington Arms in 2014 and have spent years in court. They had to overcome a U.S. law that protects firearm manufacturers and dealers from most civil lawsuits.
The families managed to do so, arguing the marketing of the AR-15 rifle (the gun that was used in the shooting) irresponsibly targeted young, high-risk men.
“Today marks an inflection point when our duty of care to our children as a society finally supersedes the bottom line of an industry that made such an atrocity like Sandy Hook possible.” — Veronique De La Rosa, the mother of six-year-old Noah, who was killed in the shooting
