A settlement between Remington and families of victims in the Sandy Hook attack is the first of its kind
American gun manufacturer Remington has agreed to pay $73 million to families of nine victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. The settlement marks the first time a gun manufacturer has been held liable for a mass shooting in the United States.
The families had taken issue with the way in which Remington had marketed its Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, which was later used in the Newton, Connecticut school shooting that took the lives of 20 children and six adults on December 14, 2012. The gunman also murdered his mother, who legally owned the rifle, and later killed himself with a pistol.
Through their lawsuit, the families argued Remington had specifically marketed its rifle to at-risk young men through efforts such as advertising in violent video games. In one flagged advertisement, the rifle is featured with the phrase: “Consider your man card reissued.”
“Marketing weapons of war directly to young people known to have a strong fascination with firearms is reckless and, as too many families know, deadly conduct,” Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was killed in the massacre, said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Remington had previously argued that there was no evidence linking their advertising to that specific shooting. The arms manufacturer had also argued it was protected under immunity laws for gunmakers. The Connecticut Supreme Court, however, ruled the suit could move forward as it was focused on the company’s marketing. The US Supreme Court denied hearing an appeal.
Remington filed for bankruptcy in 2020, with the firm’s value quickly dropping in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. Its assets were sold off to several companies. Four insurers for the now-defunct firm have agreed to pay the massive settlement.
NEW YORK, Feb 15 (IPS) – On 10 September 2021, UN Secretary-General (SG) Antonio Guterres released the “Our Common Agenda” (OCA) report. This report was in response to a request from UN member states to “report back before the end of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly with recommendations to advance our common agenda and to respond to current and future challenges”.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data
A former US Navy engineer pleaded guilty on Monday to attempting to pass classified information about America’s nuclear-powered warships to an individual he believed was representing a foreign government.
Jonathan Toebbe, 43, appeared in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he was charged with a single count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data, punishable by between 12 and 17 years in prison.
Toebbe and his wife, Diana, were detained in October after authorities claimed that he had taken advantage of his access to classified information and sold details about Virginia-class submarines. In his role as an engineer, he had previously held a top secret security clearance at the Department of Defense.
The FBI launched an undercover operation to catch Toebbe in April 2020 after he sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government, which was obtained by American authorities from its legal attache office in the unnamed country.
An FBI agent posing as a representative of a foreign nation made contact with Toebbe and transferred $100,000 in cryptocurrency in exchange for his classified information.
When the FBI searched the Toebbe family’s residence in Maryland, agents discovered bags containing shredded documents, thousands of dollars worth of cash, and a “go bag” that contained a USB flash drive. During his plea hearing, Toebbe admitted that, along with his wife, he had conspired to sell top-secret information to a foreign government with the aim of trying to “injure the United States.”
His wife is accused of having monitored “dead-drop” locations where her husband left memory cards that were filled with government secrets in discrete items, such as a chewing gum wrapper. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
