HARTFORD - Attorneys representing ten emergency physicians and trauma surgeons, who treated the victims of mass shooting incidents at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Aurora and Columbine, Colo., and at San Benardino, Calif., are seeking to submit a brief to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which sides with the plaintiffs in the Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms lawsuit.

The families of nine people killed in the December 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting incident and one of the survivors are seeking to have the Supreme Court reinstate their "wrongful death" lawsuit and send it back to state Superior Court for a jury trial. Late last year, the Supreme Court agreed to review the plaintiffs' request for the lawsuit's reinstatement, following a Superior Court judge's decision to dismiss the legal action.

The plaintiffs' lawsuit alleges, in part, that the firearm used in the shooting was negligently entrusted to the public, and that the defendant violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) in aggressively and unethically marketing the rifle to the public.

The ten physicians, including one doctor who treated the victims of the Sandy Hook School incident, are seeking to have the Supreme Court accept for review their "friends of the court" brief, which maintains that "the common law of negligent entrustment should permit the public to seek recourse against the makers and sellers of these extraordinarily dangerous weapons." The Supreme Court has the option of accepting the brief for review. The doctors, however, would not be a party to the lawsuit.

A Public Health Issue

One of the physicians is William Begg, MD, who has been an emergency department doctor at Danbury Hospital since 1993. Dr Begg, a Newtown resident, is a member of the board of directors of the Newtown Health District.

The physicians' application to the Supreme Court states that Dr Begg was on duty at the hospital on the morning that the school shooting incident occurred during which the 20-year-old gunman rapidly fired 154 rounds, killing the 26 people in several minutes. "Dr Begg oversaw the treatment of all the Sandy Hook victims transported to the hospital that day, and observed the horrific injuries caused by multiple AR-15 bullet wounds," according to the application.

The document adds, "Dr Begg was also in direct contact with the [emergency medical] personnel on the scene in Sandy Hook who were trying to decide how to care for the victims whose bodies had been decimated by multiple AR-15 bullets."

According to the court papers, "Most of the child victims never made it to the hospital because of the horrific injuries to their little bodies. Each child endured three to eleven AR-15 gunshot wounds. Because the AR-15 bullets explode in the body, organs are obliterated, leaving nothing to resuscitate."

"Dr Begg was strongly affected by this experience. He believes gun violence is a public health issue and our society should not make assault weapons, like the AR-15 available to civilians," the legal papers add.

Dr Begg has testified before state and federal legislative committees on the need for gun violence prevention and the need for a federal assault weapons ban.

According to the legal application, "The right to be free from the violence and carnage of military weapons and from the fear of such carnage is central to our society and to our way of life."

The doctors are seeking permission to file the legal brief "because of the critical importance of what is at stake, and because they feel duty-bound to share their special insights into the effect of entrusting military weapons to civilians."

Earlier this month, attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a legal brief through which they seek to have the Supreme Court reinstate the lawsuit.

In that 62-page brief, attorney Joshua Koskoff, representing the plaintiffs, wrote "The AR-15 is an instrument of war. Designed for the battlefield, it was engineered to meet the exigencies of close-range, highly mobile combat." The rifle is lightweight, easy to use, and produces high-velocity fire with limited recoil, which pierces helmets and body armor, causing severe wounds without the need for careful aim, he wrote.

The AR-15 also is known as the M-16. Bushmaster's version of the rifle is known as the XM15-E2S. The weapon has a high-capacity magazine for prolonged assaults.

In the legal brief, Mr Koskoff further argues that the firearms company has opted to market its version of the AR-15 "as a weapon of assaultive violence," with younger males being the weapon's "desired demographic."

The families' appeal asks the Supreme Court to consider the scope of the common law of negligent entrustment in Connecticut, and its application to circumstances and technology that could not have been contemplated when applicable state law was enacted, according to the plaintiffs. In the appeal, the plaintiffs argue that the meaning of certain language in CUTPA must be determined by the Supreme Court.

Through their lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek monetary damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees, costs, and injunctive relief.

The defendants in the case are expected to file a reply brief, addressing the plaintiffs' claims.