A customer tries out a Remington 1911 equipped with a silencer at Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Va.

A divided Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled gun-maker Remington can be sued over how it marketed the Bushmaster rifle used to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Justices issued a 4-3 ruling that reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit and overturned a lower-court ruling that the lawsuit was prohibited by a 2005 federal law that shields gun manufacturers from liability in most cases when their products are used in crimes.