Brendan O’Brien and Tom Hals

(Reuters) – Remington Arms has agreed to pay $73 Million in compensation to four families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims. This is the first case in which a firearm manufacturer in America has been found responsible for a mass shooting.

Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School with a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle after killing his mother. He also killed twenty students and six others.

Remington Arms is paying $73 Million to the Families and releasing all disposition and discovery material to the Public. This settlement will be made through insurance policies.

The lawsuit was filed by the families in 2014. They spent years in court trying to hold Remington responsible, despite a U.S. law protecting gunmakers and dealers against most civil litigation.

They had the drive, energy and motivation to accomplish one thing. Josh Koskoff was an attorney representing the families.

Sandy Hook’s families were able to circumvent the legal protections for gunmakers and claim that Remington’s firearms marketing contributed to their massacre.

Other gun control advocates have since been encouraged to follow that strategy, including New Jersey’s attorney general who is investigating Smith & Wesson’s marketing.

Mexico last year filed a U.S. suit against several gunmakers seeking $10 billion, accusing them in part of marketing weapons to Mexico’s criminal underworld.

New York passed a law last year that permits firearm distributors, sellers and manufacturers to be sued for creating “public nuisances” that pose a threat to the safety or health of the public. Laws governing gun manufacturing have been challenged in court.

Additionally, gun groups are using courts and the state legislatures in order to increase gun rights. They have won victories at Supreme Court 2008 and 2010, which established an individual’s legal right to have a firearm at home to protect themselves.