Have you every heard of a automobile manufacturer being successfully sued because they built a car that was used in a criminal act?

Of course you haven’t. Occasional attempts as this sort of suit are viewed as little more than impotent protests, and are typically tossed out by judges long before a case can go to trial.

That is hopefully the reality that a Connecticut law firm is giving to the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims who are dropping hints that they file a wrongful death case against Bushmaster.

The parents of 10 children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed or soon will file notices in probate court that they plan to make wrongful death claims on their children’s behalf.

…

Sources said several families met over the weekend with lawyers from Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, a Bridgeport, Conn., law firm, to discuss a potential lawsuit against Bushmaster, the North Carolina-based manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR 15 that A___ L____* used to kill 20 first-graders and six adults on Dec. 14, 2012.

There have also been discussions with other lawyers about filing a lawsuit against the town over security issues at the school on the day of the massacre or about suing the estate of Nancy Lanza.

Nancy Lanza doesn’t have much of an estate.

The largest possible target in terms of financial assets is Bushmaster… but the justification for the suit is weak.

The law firm would have to argue that Bushmaster (the manufacturer) is somehow directly responsible for the deaths of the children. This is a near impossibility in a rational world. Manufacturers sell to distributors. Distributors then sell to retailers. Retailers then sell to law-abiding customers, who must undergo a federal NICS background check.

At Sandy Hook, possession of the Bushmaster was ultimately obtained after all these legal transfers by the murder of the rightful owner, Nancy Lanza, the mass killer’s first victim.

While we understand that the families would like to be able to hold someone accountable for the murders of their children, the reality of the matter is that the person directly responsible for their deaths committed suicide just moments after killing the last of his victims, and the next most culpable person was also a victim.

No good can come of this possible suit. Let’s hope that the families refrain from filing such a case.

* Bearing Arms does not publish the names of mass or spree killers.