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The son of one of the 10 people killed in a Colorado supermarket in 2021, is suing gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co over the way the firearms used in the massacre were marketed – following a litigation roadmap organized by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The lawsuit — filed Tuesday in Connecticut state court, where Sturm, Ruger & Co. is based in Fairfield — accuses the company of marketing the AR-556 pistol in a “reckless” and “reckless” way that enhances its lethality. It is looking for an unknown amount of damage.
Nathaniel Getz, whose mother, Suzanne Fountain, was killed in a shooting on March 22, 2021, at the King Soopers store in Boulder, filed a lawsuit – the first sibling of the 10 victims to do so, said his lawyer, Andrew Garza.
“We filed a lawsuit both to seek justice for the victim’s family, but also to hold people accountable and to serve a preventive function as well, to protect the future,” Garza said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
“We believe they are marketed in a way that is intended to appeal to the militarization of young individuals, glorify the lone shooter and, especially after the Sandy Hook shooting, we think they have a moral responsibility to do better,” he said. .
Relatives are encouraged to attend court
Getz and representatives from Sturm, Ruger & Co. did not immediately return an email message seeking comment Wednesday.
The lawsuit comes just days before the two-year anniversary of the shooting as well as days before the two-year statute of limitations for filing such suits in Connecticut expires. Garza asked other relatives of the victims to attend court.
The Colorado shooter, 23-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, is accused of opening fire outside and inside the store – killing customers, workers and police who tried to stop the attack. Alissa, who suffers from schizophrenia, was ruled incompetent to stand trial. He was charged with murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.
Investigators, who have not disclosed a possible motive, said Alissa passed a background check to legally purchase a Ruger AR-556 pistol six days before the shooting.
Exceptions to the law
Lawsuits against gunmakers for harm caused by their products are generally prohibited under a controversial 2005 US federal law that shields them from liability, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act.
The law, however, has exceptions. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that gunmaker Remington could be sued under an exemption from the Sandy Hook family over the way it marketed its Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle. The US Supreme Court refused to hear Remington’s appeal of the decision in 2019, and the company eventually settled the family for US$73 million.
The case is being watched closely by gun control advocates, gun rights advocates and gun manufacturers because it potentially provides a road map for other shooting victims to sue firearm manufacturers.
Twenty first-graders and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012.
The families of the nine victims, as well as survivors, sued Remington, alleging the company targeted at-risk men in advertising and product placement in violent video games. One Remington ad featured a Bushmaster rifle against a plain background and the phrase: “Consider Your Humanity Card Reissued.”
The lawsuit against Sturm, Ruger & Co. claims the company’s marketing materials include similar phrases such as “Anything that won’t be American.”
The version of the Ruger AR-556 used in the Colorado shooting is technically a pistol, but it resembles an AR-15-style rifle. Getz’s lawsuit alleges that the company created a version of the pistol to evade laws governing handguns.
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