SCOTT PELLEY (HOST): Well, the ban on assault weapons in Connecticut and New York will remain in place. Today the US Supreme Court rejected arguments that those bans violate the Second Amendment. They were passed after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.



Parents of some of those children who died were in court today, trying a new approach to holding the maker of the gun liable. Congress shielded gunmakers from most lawsuits except when a gun is sold negligently to someone who is a high risk. Well, the parents argue that the AR-15 assault rifle is so inherently dangerous that selling it to anyone is negligent. Michelle Miller is in Hartford.



JOSHUA KOSKOFF: The AR-15 is the most dangerous, most lethal --



MICHELLE MILLER: Joshua Koskoff represents ten Newtown families suing Remington, the manufacturer of the AR-15 used to kill 20 children and 6 adults three and a half years ago.



KOSKOFF: The AR-15 worked exactly as it was designed to do.



MILLER: The families claim Remington and its distributor were negligent in allowing the guns to get into a hands of mentally ill gunman. Defense lawyer Peter Barry says that's not true.



PETER BARRY: Mrs. Landza never visited the Sandy Hook Elementary School with a firearm. It was her son who did.



MILLER: It's the latest challenge to the 2005 federal law that shields the gun industry from most lawsuits over the criminal use of firearms. But the Newtown families say the way the military style weapon is marketed is the problem. They point to advertisements that use phrases like “Consider your man card reissued.” Mark and Jackie Barden lost their seven-year-old Daniel at Sandy Hook.



JACKIE BARDEN: They're not advertising these weapons for hunting. They're not advertising these weapons for protection.



MILLER: One week after another gunman used a similar high-capacity military-style rifle to kill 49 people in an Orlando club, Georgetown law professor Heidi Feldman says the stakes are even higher.



HEIDI FELDMAN: The gun industry is, I believe, terribly afraid of being the next cigarette manufacturer.



BARDEN: This is what we need to do to make sure this stops, you know? Daniel deserved to live a full life.



MILLER: This is the first lawsuit of this kind to get this far through the legal system in what is sure to continue to be an uphill legal battle. Scott, the judge has until October to decide whether this case does indeed go to trial.

Previously:



NRA News Guest: Newtown Families Were “Extremely Irresponsible” To Sue NRA Corporate Donor That Made The Gun Used To Kill Their Family Members



Fox Tells Newtown Families To Shut Up About Stronger Gun Laws



What Right-Wing Media Won't Tell You About Assault Weapons



How NRA News Downplays Assault Weapons Capabilities