Hunting safety starts with you. Taking the right precautions before setting on your outing requires your undivided attention, imperative to protecting you and your family. Sometimes, however, there are factors beyond your control- and those don’t always come from fellow hunters.
Proper firearm cleaning and maintenance is an historic necessity for hunting and sporting safety to prevent backfires and ensure smoothly operating components. But when you purchase firearms from a manufacturer with faulty mechanisms and/or assembly, which may result in unintentional or improper discharges, the hunter may become the victim.
Remington Arms Company is in the process of recalling one of the most widely used hunting rifles in the United States, The Remington 700 Bolt Action. Recalling millions of the firearms, Remington reached a nationwide settlement in Missouri Federal Court acknowledging the 700 model bolt actions have defective trigger mechanisms. Remington recognizes there are defects causing the weapon to fire, whether the bolt was opened or closed. Other defects cause the rifle to fire without the trigger even being pulled.
The government has regulation in place to oversee the production of every consumer product from ice cream cones to light bulbs to toy dinosaurs. There is however no federal regulation or governing bodies in place to oversee gun manufacturer quality control. Regulation over gun manufacturing would have saved the lives lost to these and the handful of other faulty gun models assembled throughout the 20th and early 21st century.
Always practicing gun safety learned in certified hunting classes is essential to a healthy, happy hunting season. Make sure you always have on the proper attire for maximum visibility and weather conditions. But the first step you need to take to ensure you and your family’s safety this ensuing hunting season is contacting Remington if you use one of these very popular hunting firearms.