A divided U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Remington Arms over a trigger defect in one of its rifles that allegedly led to the accidental shooting death in 2011 of an 11-year-old boy by his 15-year-old brother in Mississippi. [More]
Yeah, I know, all guns are always loaded, and never point one at anything you’re not willing to destroy, but if the trigger really was defective and the gun really was prone to firing spontaneously, this sounds like they won one they should have lost and surrendered one they should have won.
I don’t know how you can have a ‘three-year clock” involving a homicide
[Via Jess]
Unless that rifle had been very carefully examined by a serious expert, and a clear defect was identified that could have discharged a round with no pressure on the trigger, we’ll never know how this rifle discharged just then. Unless the 15 year old who was holding it was lying when he mde his claim and fesses up later. That aside, who in their well-trained right mind would be sitting about in the living room, others scatttered throughout the room, holding crosswise on his lap a centerfire hunting rifle?
I work with a rifle markshamship training programme, and we drill four safety rules into every attendee before the rifles ever leave the cars.
ALWAYS keep the muzzle in a safe direction… violated here
DO NOT LOAD until given the LOAD command… don’t put any ammunition into the firearm until it is actually time to fire it. violated here
KEEP YOUR FINGER off the trigger until your sights are on the target. Maybe his finger was nowhere near the trigger, nor had been any time he was sitting there. As noted above.
MAKE SURE those around you are following these safety rules… violated here. Whoever else sitting in that room should have said something and/or taken action upon seeing the lad sitting on the couch, rifle pointed at little brother. That would be true whether said person knew it had a round chambered or not. And anyone else knowing it did have a round in the chamber whilst sitting about casually in the livingroom should have said/done something. These or similar rules SHOULD have been drummed into the lad’s head long before he was ever allowed to hold that rifle.
NONE of this was Remington’s fault. Even if that trigger WAS defective. (I seriously doubt it was)