Families of Newtown school shooting victims sue maker of gun used in massacre

(Image credit: iStock)

last updated 8 January 2015

Two years after Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people — 20 of them children — at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, nine families of victims and one survivor from the massacre have filed suit against the maker and distributors of the Bushmaster AR-15, the gun Lanza used in the mass shooting.

The wrongful-death suit names as defendants Bushmaster Firearms International, the gunmaker; Camfour, a distribution company; and Riverview Gun Sales, the store where Lanza's mother originally purchased the weapon. Though the Bushmaster AR-15 was purchased legally, the suit alleges it should never have been made available to the public because it is a military-grade weapon.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters