The Supreme Court today refused to block a lawsuit aimed at Remington Arms Company, the gun manufacturer responsible for producing the weapon used in what has been considered one of the most devastating episodes of mass gun violence in American history. In doing so, Justices effectively allowed a lawsuit against the weapon’s manufacturer to continue.

At the heart of the lawsuit are the families of victims as well as one survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed in Newtown, Connecticut. In Remington Arms Co. v. Soto, the gun manufacturer was appealing an attempt by the victims’ families to challenge the use of a 2005 federal law passed by Congress as a legal defense.

The law has thus far protected gun manufacturers like Remington from being held liable for crimes committed by the guns they sell, but it also has an important exception of its protection when rules related to the marketing and advertising of the guns are violated, as noted by USA Today.

Victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting were shot and killed with an AR-15-style Bushmaster rifle, a military-style rifle that the families say Remington irresponsibly and illegally marketed “for use in assaults against human beings.”

In March the Connecticut State Supreme Court agreed with the families and said Remington could be sued for how it marketed the rifle. Remington then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping the Justices would block the lawsuit from advancing.

The Supreme Court’s action on November 12 allows the lawsuit to continue at the state level. As is common in these kinds of judgments, the justices provided no comments in relation to their decision.

The Associated Press reports that the 2005 federal law has been used to block lawsuits over other mass shootings, and depending on how this case plays out, it could offer a roadmap for future disputes against the gun industry.

Activists remain committed to remembering and honoring the lives of those killed during the Sandy Hook massacre. Natalie Barden, whose little brother, Daniel, was one of the students killed at Sandy Hook, wrote in a Teen Vogue op-ed, “The movement of gun-violence prevention is not going to die out, because there are thousands of kids who have been forced to take action after suffering terrible losses.”

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