IOWA
CITY, Iowa (AP) — It was the opening day of deer hunting season, and
Ronald Hansen says he loaded his rifle the same way he had countless
times before, aimed at a target and fired a shot.
This
time, the gun barrel exploded, knocking the farmer from Hampton, Iowa,
backward, severely damaging his right hand and ear and burning his face.
Unknown
to Hansen, the manufacturer of the rifle that injured him in 2014 had
received other complaints of explosions and injuries over the prior
decade. Customers repeatedly reported that the barrel of the stainless
steel 10 ML-II muzzleloader exploded, burst, split or cracked, according
to thousands of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Lawyers
for the company, Westfield, Massachusetts-based Savage Arms, were
expected to appear Wednesday in federal court in Iowa to defend against a
lawsuit filed by Hansen. He is seeking damages for his injuries,
alleging the company failed to warn customers about the alleged defect
and seeks damages for his injuries.
It's
one of several lawsuits that have claimed the company recklessly kept
the muzzleloaders on the market even as they kept occasionally mangling
hands, damaging hearing and burning faces. At least three have been
settled on a confidential basis since last year.
Martin
Crimp, a Michigan State University metals expert who examined a 10ML-II
that exploded and caused a hunter to lose multiple fingers in 2009,
told the AP the barrel of that gun was "metallurgically defective."
An
expert hired by Hansen's lawyers came to a similar conclusion, saying
the steel used to make the rifle was prone to catastrophic failure after
repeat firings.
Anthony
Pisciotti, an outside lawyer for Savage Arms, said he wasn't authorized
to comment. A spokesman for its parent company, Vista Outdoor, didn't
return messages.
Savage
Arms, which discontinued the gun in 2010 after thousands were on the
market, has insisted it's safe when used properly, has no defects and
was designed in accordance with industry standards.
Savage
Arms has argued that operator error is to blame for the explosions,
saying users must have created too much pressure inside the barrel
either by loading two bullets or using the wrong amount or type of
gunpowder. It has issued a safety notice on its website warning owners
to "carefully follow the safe loading procedures" in the product manual
to avoid injuries.
Hansen's
case highlights how gun makers, unlike manufacturers of other consumer
products, have the sole discretion to decide themselves whether to
recall potentially dangerous weapons. In 1976, Congress blocked the
newly-created Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has broad
authority to regulate everything from toasters to toys and BB guns, from
restricting the manufacture or sale of firearms.
"It's
an example of an industry that can essentially do whatever they want
and there's no consequences other than being held accountable in a civil
liability context," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the
Violence Policy Center in Washington D.C.
Other
companies have faced allegations that they allowed unsafe guns to stay
on the market. Remington agreed to replace triggers in its popular Model
700 rifles — only after several lawsuits claiming that they were prone
to accidentally discharging. Ruger was accused of marketing revolvers
for decades that could fire when dropped.
Savage
Arms recently agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trent Procter, who
was on a hunting trip with friends in October 2009 when the 10 ML-II
he'd owned for years "just blew apart" when he shot at a target.
Procter,
48, missed nine months of work from his job as a power company lineman
as he endured surgeries on his left hand and rehabilitation. He had to
move to a different job and still experiences numbness due to nerve
damage in his hand, where he's missing parts of his thumb and middle
finger.
Photos
of Procter's hand were shared on hunting websites after the explosion,
and he said it was insulting that some suggested he and not a defective
product was to blame.
"I'm
surprised it was never recalled or a warning was put out that this was
actually happening," he said. "It's quite scary when you think about
it."
Last
year, the company also settled a case brought by Michigan hunter Rodney
Palatka and his wife, who was pregnant with twins and suffered a
miscarriage after witnessing her husband's injuries.
James
Putman of North Carolina alleges in a pending lawsuit that his Savage
10ML-II burst as he hunted last year in the George Washington National
Forest, blasting his thumb off and forcing his early retirement as a
firefighter.
Savage
Arms started making the 10ML-II in 2001. It was designed to withstand
the use of smokeless powder, which appealed to some shooters because it
didn't require the same messy cleanup as black powder.
The company's knowledge of the barrel problems is becoming clear after years of lawsuits.
In
Palatka's case, a federal magistrate in 2015 sanctioned the company for
a "purposeful record of obfuscation" that included falsely claiming
that it was aware of only two prior explosions while withholding
information that showed otherwise.
The
company acknowledged in Hansen's case that it received 45 legal claims
related to burst or split barrels dating to 2004. Hansen's lawyers say
documents show Savage Arms created a special "muzzleloader return team"
and faced hundreds of warranty and service claims.
Some hunters were offered free replacement rifles after they were told their errors caused the damage.
Hansen,
50 and a lifelong hunter, testified in an August deposition that he
followed the recommended procedures when he loaded his 10ML-II, which he
bought in 2010 and had shot 200 times. He said he weighed and loaded 43
grains of the recommended powder and one bullet. He set a target at 50
yards, laid on a dirt pile, aimed and fired.
Hansen,
who was rushed to the emergency room after the explosion, testified he
still struggles to hear even with a hearing aid and cannot perform some
farm chores due to his hand injury.
Savage Arms has suggested that Hansen used an improper mix of powders that caused too much pressure. Trial is set for next years.
By: writter
reporting post Birbal
News 24 In Nepal..........
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