Gunmaker offers $33m to settle suit

The United States' oldest gunmaker, which produced the rifle used by the shooter in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has offered nearly $33 million to families of nine of the 26 victims.

The shooter killed 20 children aged 6 and 7 and six staff members at the Connecticut school.

Each family will receive a settlement of $3.66 million, which falls far short of what the families had sought in their case against Remington. In February, they argued in court that wrongful death settlements could total $225 million, with total punitive claims possibly exceeding $1 billion.

James Rotondo, a Hartford lawyer representing Remington, declined to comment on Wednesday. The settlement offers were filed a day after a judge denied Remington's request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Remington made the offer in a lawsuit brought by the families, according to court documents filed on Tuesday that were part of a bankruptcy hearing for the company. Remington filed for bankruptcy last year for the second time in two years. Its assets were later sold off to several companies.

Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for the families, said the settlements were offered by two of Remington's insurers, adding that they would "consider their next steps" regarding the offer.

Financial risk

"Since this case was filed in 2014, the families' focus has been on preventing the next Sandy Hook," he said in a statement. "An important part of that goal has been showing banks and insurers that companies that sell assault weapons to civilians are fraught with financial risk."

Founded in 1816, Remington is best known for its rifles and shotguns.

Remington's Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle was used by Adam Lanza to kill 20 first-graders and six school employees on Dec 14, 2012. The 20-year-old gunman had killed his mother at their Newtown home before the massacre, and then shot himself with a handgun when police arrived at the school.

In the lawsuit, relatives of the nine victims said that Remington should have never sold such a dangerous weapon to the public and alleged it targeted younger at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. They said their focus is to prevent future mass shootings.

A federal law protects gun manufacturers from wrongful death lawsuits brought by family members. But in this lawsuit, families of the Sandy Hook victims instead sought to hold Remington responsible for marketing practices that praised the militaristic qualities of their rifles, potentially in violation of Connecticut law.

In its request to dismiss the lawsuit, Remington argued that there were no facts presented to establish that the company's marketing had anything to do with the shooting.

Agencies via Xinhua contributed to this story.