Families Of Texas Elementary School Shooting Victims Will Sue Gun Manufacturers

JAKARTA - 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States on May 24 and killed 19 students and two teachers before he was killed by law enforcement, according to authorities.

He legally bought his first gun on his 18th birthday on May 17.

Josh Koskoff, Garza's attorney, has worked on the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that earned a $73 million settlement from gun maker Remington in February.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School case is the first significant settlement of a mass shooting of a gun maker, a party protected by federal law from lawsuits.

"Sandy Hook in Connecticut has no legal ties to a Texas court but that doesn't mean he doesn't have persuasive power," Koskoff said.

Koskoff told Reuters he was applying what he learned from the Sandy Hook case to his current investigation.

The investigation focused on the marketing of weapons to children and youth and the marketing of video games using a first-person shooter.

"The shooter, basically the day he turned 18, he knew exactly what gun he got," Koskoff said.

In a separate legal action, school employee Emilia Marin filed papers in Texas State court demanding that Daniel Defense testify and force the company to submit documents, also related to its marketing.

On the school's website, Marin is registered as a speech pathologist.

Marin's lawsuit, filed late Thursday (2/6), is a petition that allows a party to begin investigating possible obligations to provide compensation.

Gun manufacturers are generally protected -- from lawsuits for criminal use of firearms -- by a federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA.

However, the Connecticut Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 2019 that arms company Remington Arms could be sued by the families of victim Sandy Hook under the PLCAA exemption for allegedly violating state marketing laws.