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Victims of Sandy Hook Enter Lawsuit

2014-12-22 (월)
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Parents of almost half the young children killed by gunman Adam Lanza at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, two years ago on Sunday have taken steps towards filing a lawsuit. The Sandy Hook incident left 20 chil­dren and 6 adults dead and is considered one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The 20 year-old gunman ended up shooting himself when he heard police sirens approach­ing him. Due to the statute of limitations the two-year mark would be the last day they can officially file a lawsuit.

For the second straight year, Newtown resi­dents have not planned any public events to commemorate the distressing massacre. The incident shocked the nation on December 14, 2012 and opened up the debate over gun con­trol and firearms laws across the entire country. But this time, the complaints are different. The victims’families plan to file wrongful death lawsuits and may be targeting Bushmaster, which was the gun manufacturer that Lanza said was his “weapon of choice”.

The initial court filings, related to legal entities created in memory of their children, do not indicate the specific target of their lawsuits, but it seems to be Bushmaster and the estate of the Lanza’s mother, who was one of the first victims in the shooting spree. The Nancy Lanza estate is worth roughly $64,000.


According to some re­ports, roughly 95 incidents, including fata and nonfa­tal assaults, suicides, and shootings have taken place across 33 states since the Sandy Hook incident. ‘It’s astounding,’ said Shannon Watts, who founded the Moms group. ‘There is no other developed country that would toler­ate this kind of gun violence around school age children.’ Gun-rights advocates are keen to note that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Consti­tution protects the right to bear arms. They sug­gest that armed guards, stronger security, and heightened awareness will be the leading factor in protecting school grounds from violence. The popular mantra is: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”

The debate is extremely controversial and will continue to meet opposition and support from both sides. One thing certain, the innocent lives of those children and educators from the Sandy Hook massacre can never be fixed, and that is the greatest tragedy of all.


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