The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, passed by Congress in 2005, was the top priority of the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Federation, which happens to be based in Newtown, Connecticut. Newtown’s Sandy Hook elementary school was the scene of the horrifying 2012 massacre of 20 first- graders and six educators at the hands of a 20-year-old deranged gunman who used an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. The law protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes are committed with their products. But a different law in Connecticut allowed nine families of Sandy Hook victims to sue Remington Arms, based on wrongful marketing claims under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.
In mid-February, the parties announced an agreement in which the insurers of the bankrupt Remington firearms company will pay plaintiffs $73 million. The families say more important than the money is what they learned through discovery about marketing practices of the industry – knowledge that gun violence prevention groups plan to use to pursue justice from other gunmakers. They also are pushing for Congress to repeal PLCAA.
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Po Murray, chairperson of the all-volunteer Newtown Action Alliance, established in the wake of the massacre. Here, she talks about what was learned through the lawsuit and her group’s work on the federal level to reduce gun violence.
PO MURRAY: We’re really thrilled that this lawsuit was settled by Remington’s insurers because they acknowledged the fact that there was some wrongdoing. Remington has been egregious in the marketing of guns, particularly weapons of war, to young people, by suggesting, “You won’t have a ‘man card’ unless you own AR-15s.”
This sets a great precedent for other families who have been impacted by gun violence in this country. As you’re aware, in 2005, the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is headquartered three miles from Sandy Hook Elementary right in Newtown, and the gun industry made passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act their Number One priority and they had President George W. Bush sign it into law. And since then, the gun industry has been mostly shielded from civil liabilities for the use of their dangerous weapons.
So, thankfully, there were some exceptions to the law, and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act allowed the Sandy Hook families to pursue this lawsuit, and we’re hoping that other states will follow with having similar bills to allow the families who have been impacted by gun violence to have their day in court, to hold the gun industry accountable for the gun deaths and injuries in this country.
MELINDA TUHUS: Since you do operate nationally, are you aware of similar laws in other states that would allow families to sue gunmakers?
PO MURRAY: So, I’m not aware of any specific unfair trade practices act in each state, but recently Attorney General Tish James from New York is supporting some type of a bill in New York to allow families to sue gun companies. Also, on Feb. 18, Gov. (Gavin) Newsom from California announced that they are introducing a bill that is modeled around the anti-abortion law in Texas to allow anyone to sue the gun manufacturers.
MELINDA TUHUS: Po Murray, I know they went after Remington because they were the sellers of the specific gun that was used in the massacre at Sandy Hook. Are they just part of the gun manufacturing ecosystem where other companies are doing the same, or was Remington worse?
PO MURRAY: Just broadly, the gun industry has been irresponsible. They make products that are not as safe as they could be. They are selling and marketing weapons of war to civilians, and they are blocking commonsense efforts to keep illegal guns away from communities that are most impacted by gun violence.
Recently, at the Shot Show – it is the gun industry gun show in Las Vegas that is sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation – there was a gun manufacturer from Illinois called Wee 1 Tactical, and this gun manufacturer is marketing JR-15s, which is modeled after AR-15s, and it is quite egregious.
Some of the imagery includes skulls and bones, and pacifiers, and the colors are for children. So essentially what they’re doing is marketing weapons of war to small children, the same age as the children who were killed at the Sandy Hook tragedy.
MELINDA TUHUS: Please tell me, those can’t be real guns.
PO MURRAY: They are real guns, and they’re marketing it as, “AR-15, the make and feel just like your mom and dad’s guns.”
MELINDA TUHUS: But there’s an age limit for these guns!
PO MURRAY: Yes, there are age limits for gun ownership and gun purchases, but parents can buy these guns for their children. Not only were they showcasing these type of weapons of war for children at the Shot Show, but the NSSF allowed ghost gun manufacturers to showcase their guns, and ghost guns are now seeping into the illegal market and fueling the violence in this country. I can order a receiver that’s partially finished and then I can order the other parts and actually build my own assault weapon – a ghost gun. It’s a do-it-yourself gun. And it’s not serialized and it’s untraceable; that’s what makes it so dangerous.
MELINDA TUHUS: You said at the beginning that your organization focuses on the federal level in terms of legislation. What are some of the issues you’re focusing on in this congressional session?
PO MURRAY: We’re working on advancing H.R. 748 or S. 190 in the Senate; it’s called Ethan’s Law. It’s to require gun owners to lock up their guns when kids are around, or someone who is prohibited from owning guns. We have acquired 63 additional co-sponsors for the bill since the Oxford High School, (Michigan) shooting. We have 205 official sponsors and we just need 12 or 13 more co-sponsors and we’ll be able to pass this bill in the House of Representatives.
But we have always believed a set of comprehensive measures are needed to end the gun violence crisis, including assault weapons ban, the universal background checks, and also funding community violence intervention programs. We are also working on urging the president to establish the federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention and appoint a director who could spend 100 percent of his or her time on gun violence prevention.
For more information, visit Newtown Action Alliance at newtownactionalliance.org.
