When the families of nine of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School began their lawsuit against the gunmaker of Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle, they were driven by the goal of sparing other families the pain that had upended their lives.

On Tuesday, the victims’ families marked a victory in their effort with the announcement of a $73 million settlement with Remington Arms, which manufactures the Bushmaster. The settlement, which comes after a protracted court battle, marks the first instance in the United States of a gun manufacturer facing liability for a mass shooting.

“They had the motivation to do whatever they could … so that other families — whether they are in a suburb or township or city — would not have to go through the kind of pain and the loss that they had,” Joshua Koskoff, an attorney for the families, said during a Tuesday news conference.

Koskoff said the settlement sends a signal to gunmakers that they cannot act with impunity and clearly “have skin in the game.” The lawsuit contended, among other things, that Bushmaster was a “combat weapon” improperly marketed to civilians.

“A linchpin of the settlement is that it allows these families the rights to share what they learned with the public,” Koskoff said of documents obtained during the lengthy court battle.

Tearful family members of the victims gathered in a Connecticut hotel room Tuesday as Koskoff discussed the culmination of their eight-year-long battle that began two years after shooter Adam Lanza was armed with the high-powered rifle during his rampage in Newtown, Conn., that killed 28 people, including 20 young children.

Remington, which has filed for bankruptcy, offered to pay nearly $33 million to the nine families last July.

Koskoff noted that the families of the victims “would pay it all back just for one minute” with their loved ones lost in the mass shooting.

“That would be true justice,” he said.