Gun control

Gunmakers Say Federal Law Shields Them from Sandy Hook Negligence Claims

A 2005 federal law was designed specifically to prevent gunmakers from being sued for mass killings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School, lawyers for the maker of the AR-15 assault weapon used in the attack told a Connecticut judge.

The suit over the massacre of 20 children and six educators hinges on an exception to the law that applies when a seller “negligently entrusts” a weapon to a buyer who is likely to use it in a crime.

Attorney James Vogt, a lawyer for the Remington Arms Co., said Monday in state court in Bridgeport that the exception is intended to apply to face-to-face retailers or individuals who sell guns. It can’t be applied to a manufacturer, he said. The question of whether the AR-15 should be sold to the public should be dealt with by legislators rather than juries, he said.

The exception could only apply “if the retailer had known that Mrs. Lanza’s son was mentally ill,” Vogt said, referring to Nancy Lanza, the mother of shooter Adam Lanza.

About a dozen family members attended the packed hearing, which took on fresh meaning in the wake of last week’s massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with a similar assault rifle — the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.