Howell and Christmas, LLC On Guns: Part 2 of 2
This is the second of a two part post concerning guns and gun control in the United States. With the recent shooting that caused serious injuries and wrongful deaths in Arizona, gun regulations have come under scrutiny, but as mentioned in Part 1, scrutiny hardly materializes into legislative change. This all happens to come as major American gun manufacturer, Remingtion, has been investigated for defects reported in their 700-series rifle.
South Carolina wrongful death attorneys know the importance Remington has played in history as an iconic American gun manufacturer, they also know South Carolinians enjoy recreational hunting and can be seriously injured or killed by defective firearms.
A 10-month investigation by news source CNBC recently uncovered thousands of complaints and over 75 lawsuits against Remington for alleged unintentional discharges from the 700-series rifle. The Remington 700 is an extremely popular model with over 5 million units sold, yielding America's oldest company still producing its original products hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the last 60 years. Remington tags the Model 700-series as the "firearm of choice" for America's military and law enforcement communities.
At least two dozen wrongful deaths and more than a hundred injuries have resulted from an alleged design defect in the 700-series bolt-action rifle. The defect causes the rifle to discharge and misfire rounds when operators' fingers are reported not to be on the trigger. A problem encountered by hunters, police snipers, military personnel, and other gun owners over the past six decades.
Remington remains unfazed by the allegations and continues to produce the gun and claims the accidents can be attributed to improper maintenance, unsafe handling, and/or after market modification of the trigger by the customer. However, the gun manufacturer has had to pay substantial damages to plaintiffs and has payed out around $20 million in settlement resolutions.
The sad, yet interesting component of this particular defective consumer products, is that federal regulators are incapable of ordering a mandatory recall of the gun. While government agencies can order recalls of most major consumer goods like food, medicine, and even air rifles, they do not have the control to establish a firearm recall. For firearm recalls, the responsibility falls upon manufacturers like Remington, who have considered a call back of the 700-series, but ultimately decided against it.
