New In-Depth Investigation Reveals Ongoing Deadly Trigger Defects Of Remington Riles

This week, the popular show on CBS, Sixty Minutes, ran an in-depth segment on the dangers associated with the Remington Model 700 rifle, which many claim can fire without the trigger being pulled or with the safety on. A federal judge in Missouri recently heard arguments from thousands of plaintiffs who claim that their Remington guns fired suddenly and without cause.

In 2014, Remington issued a recall of 1.3 million Model 700 and Model Seven rifles for a similar issue, but never claimed liability for any injuries or deaths associated with the defect. The company has also faced 150 lawsuits alleging injury or death for concerning the Model 700 rifles that it produced in the ‘90s with a trigger called the “Walker.” Since then, the trigger has been altered, but the variety called the “X-Mark Pro” has been recalled for its potential to spontaneously fire.

Remington says that it has recalled the guns containing the X-Mark Pro because the “triggers assembled between May 1, 2006, and April 9, 2014 could have been put together with too much bonding agent.” Most gun owners know that they should never rely on a gun’s safety mechanisms and always keep guns pointed away from people at all times, but this does not mean that defective safety mechanisms or triggered cannot be blamed for unintentional deaths.

The CBS exposé noted that a committee of ten attorneys general wrote to the court during the recent federal hearing to say, “There are potentially as many as 7.5 million defective rifles at issue. Remington knows or should know…they are unreasonably dangerous.” The news organization then focused on the story of one family whose lives were severely impacted by Remington’s dangerous and defective product.

In 2011, two Mississippi boys, Zac and Justin, got into a fight while they were home alone. In order to intimidate his brother, Zac, 15-years-old at the time, loaded the Remington rifle he had been given a few years prior. Although the argument was resolving itself, suddenly the rifle fired, killing Justin. Zac was convicted of killing his brother and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was just released after five years for good behavior.

During the trial, Zac’s father, Roger Stringer testified against his son without knowing that Remington has already received around 200 complaints about spontaneous firing. The company did not make this information public but issued the recall some time after Zac’s conviction. There have been 20 claims of death caused by the rifle’s faulty firing system. Remington has made many settlements but never admitted any wrongdoing or responsibility for the deaths or injuries.

Companies with defective products may try to shift blame to their customers and allege that their own actions caused their traumatic injuries or death, even when they are aware of a pattern of danger. If you or a loved one have been injured by a defective product, call Attorneys Charles Gilman and Briggs Bedigian today at 800-529-6162 or contact them online.