What does a gun company do when it has a top selling product with a trigger defect that's causing accidental deaths? Nothing, apparently, for decades.
That's the story of Remington Arms Co.'s Model 700 series rifle, which CNBC reports had a defective firing mechanism since it was invented almost 70 years ago. In fact, in 1989, the company's engineers met with its lawyers to discuss overhauling the mechanism so it wouldn't get jammed by debris, causing it to discharge without the trigger even being pulled.
It would be another 17 years, thousands more complaints and about 100 more lawsuits before Remington would finally put a new fire control for the Model 700 on the market. Many of those lawsuits blamed Remington for serious injuries, as well as multiple deaths.
Secret documents from inside the nation's oldest gun manufacturer show corporate attorneys heavily involved in multiple attempts by Remington engineers to develop a safer rifle. The apparent fear: changing the design would be seen as an admission of guilt.
Oh, yes, forget about preventable deaths—a change might suggest wrongdoing. But a cover up and more deaths—much better. That's the type of thinking that's responsible for at least two dozen accidental deaths and hundreds more injuries caused by the Model 700.
The recent revelations, newly reported by CNBC and forced into the public eye by the legal advocacy group Public Justice, come as Remington seeks to settle a landmark class-action suit that would require the company to replace the triggers on some 7.5 million guns.
Nonetheless, Remington has still never admitted that its signature firearm had a problem even though the documents revealed the following:
- Remington has been able to duplicate the alleged problem, both in its own tests and in research by an independent laboratory the company commissioned.
- Remington rejected multiple alternative designs for the trigger, at least in part because attorneys worried that a design change might be seen as an admission of guilt in the product liability suits they were battling.
- Remington has deftly — and legally — used court secrecy provisions to limit the spread of information about the alleged defect. But on multiple occasions, courts have sanctioned the company — including at least one contempt citation—for withholding key evidence.
That's what you get when lawyers block engineers from doing their jobs. There's plenty more to this story available here from CNBC reporter Scott Cohn. The outlet was also scheduled to air a 60-minute special on the lawsuit on Dec. 20.
