[3][4] The company cited mounting legal fees and compassion for the victims and their families as the reason for settling.

[8] In December 2012, Cerberus Capital Management announced its intention to sell Bushmaster's successor company, Freedom Group.

[10] Cerberus indicated that the decision to sell the company stemmed from publicity surrounding the use of a Bushmaster rifle in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

According to the company: "It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level.

[13][better source needed] In September 2020, in the bankruptcy auction of Remington Outdoor Company, Crotalus Holdings, Inc. purchased the Bushmaster trademarks.

[15] Bushmaster's firearms, such as the XM-15 line, were offered in a 5.56 NATO chambering with forged aircraft-grade (7075-T6) aluminum receivers.

Originally marketed for police and the military, Bushmaster later moved from this design to a variant of Eugene Stoner's AR-15/M-16 weapon system.

According to the company, in 2010, Bushmaster began making the ACR available to the civilian market, posting it on its website.

Some models also removed the forward assist and the dust cover and used a thinner barrel design to save weight.