Gun company appeals to the Supreme Court over Sandy Hook victims’ right to sue

Remington Arms, the manufacturer of the gun used in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, appealed a state ruling against it to the Supreme Court Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

In March, the Connecticut Supreme Court found 4-3 that the Madison, North Carolina-based company could be sued under a state law over its marketing of the rifle, overturning a lower court that dismissed the lawsuit, citing the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

{mosads}The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by a survivor of the shooting and relatives of nine victims, argued the company bore responsibility for the mass killing due to marketing and product placement they said targeted younger, at-risk men.

The 2005 law was passed “to ensure that firearms — so central to American society that the Founders safeguarded their ownership and use in the Bill of Rights — would be regulated only through the democratic process rather than the vagaries of litigation,” Remington lawyers Scott Keller and Stephanie Cagniart wrote to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law protects gun manufacturers and dealers from liability for crimes committed with their products, but includes exemptions for the same restrictions other consumer product manufacturers are subject to.

Joshua Koskoff, who represents the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement, “Our state’s highest court has already ruled that the families deserve their day in court and we are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will defer to that well-reasoned opinion,” according to the AP.