Sandy Hook wrongful death suits head back to state court

A judge in U.S District Court in Hartford, Connecticut, has sent back to state court a wrongful death lawsuit filed by 10 Newtown, Connecticut, families against Bushmaster Firearms.

Families of nine people killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 can continue their wrongful death suit in state court, a Connecticut federal judge ruled.

In Soto et al v. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC et al, originally filed Jan. 14, 2015, U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny, returned the case to state court.

The lawsuit claims Bushmaster AR-15, the assault rifle used to kill 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, is too dangerous to sell to the public.

In addition to Windham, Maine-based Bushmaster Firearms International L.L.C., the defendants include firearm distributor Camfour Inc., based in Westfield, Massachusetts, and Riverview Sales Inc. store where the gunman's mother legally purchased the rifle in 2010.

The decision comes on the heels of another incident of gun violence where nine people were killed and seven wounded at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.