Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC

What the court held

Plaintiffs connected to the Sandy Hook shooting sued the manufacturer, distributor, and seller of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, alleging that wrongful marketing of the rifle was a substantial factor in the killings. The Connecticut Supreme Court held that CUTPA qualifies as a predicate statute under the PLCAA's predicate exception, so the wrongful-marketing claims are not preempted and may go forward. Three justices dissented in part, reading the exception to reach only statutes governing the sale and marketing of firearms specifically.

Summarized from the court's opinion.

What this case is about

whether the PLCAA bars state unfair-trade-practices claims over the marketing of a rifle

GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.

Key Dates

• 2019-03-19 — Decided

Sources

• CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08