Sandy Hook Parents Suing Firearms Manufacturer

[branford]

45. Ah, I misunderstood you perspective.

However, this complaint was definitely written for reporters and not lawyers or the court. Plaintiffs are permitted great leeway in their pleadings, and particularly on such public and political matters, they should be taken with a grain of salt.

I would love to have the time to read plaintiffs' and defendants' motion papers to see the real nitty-gritty of the actual legal arguments and if plaintiffs can a cite any on-point precedents to support their asserted theories.

I do believe one of the problems plaintiffs will likely face is that CT actually had an assault weapons ban and the rifle was fully compliant. As a matter of product liability, the CT government arguably had already determined that the rifle was "safe" as a matter of law. Further, the negligent entrustment theory is problematic as a narrow matter because Adam only came into possession of the firearm by theft and murder, and as a general matter because if Plaintiffs' theories are accepted, they would effectively ban the most popular rifle in America with millions in possession of law-abiding Americans, if not ALL semi-automatic rifles, and where ALL rifles represent a tiny fraction of gun deaths in the USA, with that number declining. Such a finding would upend Heller and McDonald.