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A Cheap Gun Is a 'Bad' Gun, Atlanta Suit Claims

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited February 2002 in General Discussion
A Cheap Gun Is a 'Bad' Gun, Atlanta Suit ClaimsMom attacks poor design of Saturday night specialsTrisha RenaudFulton County Daily Report January 30, 2002 The Saturday night special handgun long has been blamed for contributing to street violence simply because it's cheap. Now it's being blamed for a death because of cheap workmanship. California gun maker Bryco Arms has spent the past three years fending off a suit by the city of Atlanta that accuses 16 manufacturers and trade groups of selling guns with dangerously negligent designs and inadequate warnings. In a new suit filed in Georgia's Fulton State Court, Bryco Arms will have to defend a product liability suit that claims the poor design and manufacture of the company's low-cost .380 caliber handgun caused the accidental shooting of a Macon, Ga., teen-ager. This latest suit, filed Jan. 7, is over the accidental death of a 15-year-old shot March 25, 2000, when his older sister dropped her Bryco-manufactured .380-caliber handgun. The gun allegedly hit the dining room table and discharged, shooting William O. Bullard III in the right side of his abdomen just as he was entering the dining room. The teen-ager died that day from his injuries. The semiautomatic handgun was "unsafe and unreasonably dangerous under ordinary use due to the known propensity of the product to discharge when dropped," according to the complaint filed by Macon attorneys Joel Grist and Kenneth M. Brock of Grist & Brock. Bullard v. Bryco Arms, No. 02VS027125-H (Fult. St. Jan. 7, 2002). According to Brock, Bryco specializes in Saturday night specials that are marketed in poor neighborhoods and cost about $75. Brock says his suit has a narrow focus. "We're not against guns and we're not against the Second Amendment," he says. "We're against bad guns." Bryco has not filed an answer to the Bullard suit yet, and its owner, Bruce L. Jennings, didn't respond to questions faxed to his office. Michael C. Hewitt of Laguna Hills, Calif., who represents Bryco in the city of Atlanta litigation, couldn't be reached. In a 1994 interview with Public Broadcasting Service, Jennings said his company had filled a void in the gun industry: supplying "millions of firearms legitimately to the vast population of the lower income groups." He was still in business, he said, because he made quality products that were "safe and reliable." According to the complaint, Bullard's 21-year-old sister, Tiffany Hardware, bought a handgun Feb. 10, 2000, at a Macon-area pawnshop. She never fired the gun, a Bryco Model 48, also called J48, and brought it back to the pawnshop on Saturday, March 25, 2000, because she believed it wasn't working properly, the suit says. A friend of Hardware's had tried to fire the gun that day at a firing range, according to Brock, but it jammed and wouldn't fire. The pawnshop told Hardware to bring it back Monday. But Hardware accidentally dropped the gun that Saturday, and the discharge killed her brother. The suit, filed by Bullard's mother, Linda Bullard, says the gun was negligently designed and manufactured and was prone to discharge when dropped. The manual safety disengaged or failed without warning, the suit says, and the gun had no automatic firing pin safety or other device to keep it from firing when the manual safety failed. Bryco advertised and marketed the handgun as safe when the company knew or should have known of its dangerous defects and its potential to cause injury or death, the suit says. The complaint names Bryco, Jennings and several related companies apparently owned by the Jennings family: Jennings Firearms, B.L. Jennings Inc. and RKB Investments. The plaintiff alleges that the various corporate entities are shams used by the Jennings family to avoid judgments in product liability or personal injury suits, and have no liability insurance. http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZADRWC2XC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true
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Comments

  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hate to see any gunmaker getting sued....but this could be an exception....appears Jenning's brought this on themselves with an inferior product....anyone here think they make anything worthy of being called a gun?
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  • niklasalniklasal Member Posts: 776 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Guns? no....Dangerous, YES.I'd really like to know what Mr. Jennings keeps in his dresser drawer for home protection. If he's got a Jennnings Nine, he's just plain stupid. If he's got something else, he knows he sells crap and should be SHUT DOWN.
    NIKLASAL@hotmail.com
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not me. I had a .380 one time and the metal was so soft that hollowpoints got hung up on divots on the feed ramp. I felt bad selling the d*** thing to anybody, but got rid of it quick at a loss.
    "The 2nd Amendment is about defense, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member."
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  • PelicanPelican Member Posts: 1,061 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Should an elder person on a fixed income be denied the ability to protect themselves because they can't afford a $500 gun?If I drop a knife on the floor and it bounces up and stabs my leg is the manufacturer liable? Should Colt SAA's be considered sat nite spls because they failed the H P White Labortories drop test?No folks, we should be supporting Byrco instead of siding with the anti's. Granted they make a cheap product but if they are convicted who's next? Hey, it's possible for a pre Series 80 Colt 1911 dropped on it's muzzle to fire due to the firing pin inertia.Let's also remember that a couple of RG's passed the White tests.One other thing - no one has ever been able to truely define a "Sat Nite Spl". Those of us that fool with firearms should not even use the term.
    The Almighty Himself Entrusted the Future of All Living Creatures to a Wooden Boat.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Audemus jura nostra defendere"[This message has been edited by Pelican (edited 02-09-2002).]
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  • RancheroPaulRancheroPaul Member Posts: 1,459 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Unfortunately, it still amounts to one basic fact: If you want fresh Oats, they always cost more than those that have already been through the horse. If you take a brand new one of these "Inexpensive" guns out of the box, test fire it and it works.....you might be all right. If it doesn't, I've never been able to make one right, get any qualified gunsmith that could make it work right, or even have the factory fix it so it worked right. I even had a little Beretta .22 Semi-Auto that jammed on the second round, sent to the factory three times to be fixed. After the third time, it never jammed before the fourth round, but on every one of them after that.To me, carrying such a gun as this is taking the same chance as not carrying one at all!I wouldn't carry any gun I hadn't fired enough to know it worked....every time, or any gun that wasn't safe when it was supposed to be.Can't afford it right now....put it on Layaway........unless your life aint worth it!
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  • niklasalniklasal Member Posts: 776 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd have to agree. Pelican, I just don't trust the Bryco because it has POOR performance. I have a J-22 that NEVER fed two round in a row. It either jammed after EACH ROUND, or it fired FULL-AUTOMATIC 3 round bursts. The thing I'm concerned with is the poor quality of the alloys used and it's tendency to jam. I don't want the thing to blow up in my hand, or have the slide ignite a rimfire that is jammed. The bullet has got to go somewhere, and into myself or a friend is too much of a risk for me to stomach.
    NIKLASAL@hotmail.com
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  • BoomerangBoomerang Member Posts: 4,513
    edited November -1
    Agree with Pelican, 100%.Boomer
    Protect our Constitutional Rights.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Pelican is right IMHO. A product should be safe. By that I mean a product should not slam-fire like some Jennings have been known to do. There is no reason why a semi-auto should fire 3 round bursts. I believe that banning affordable firearms is creating another form of elitism. The gun-grabbers would love to ban all affordable firearms until the only thing left would be the $2000 custom jobs. One shot followed by a jam is better than no shots at all. RancheroPaul--I believe you are talking about the Beretta Model 21 Bobcat. I personally like the gun but you have to feed it the right kind of ammunition. I owned one once and never had any significant problems if I fed it CCI Stingers. It is not unusual for a gun to "prefer" certain types of ammo when it comes to accuracy and reliability.
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  • niklasalniklasal Member Posts: 776 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    idsman, you have a good point with the "new elite" that would be formed by eliminating inexpensive guns.There are guns out there for people who have little money for personal protection. They just should not have to resort to cheap (poor quality) guns. There are plenty of low cost used weapons out there and low cost revolvers, which are reliable and safe.
    NIKLASAL@hotmail.com
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  • Shootist3006Shootist3006 Member Posts: 4,171
    edited November -1
    Pelican has it right, while we may think Bryco make a bunch of junk - compared to your super-duper Kimber/Baer/Whatever, remember that many cannot afford such toys. The original "Saturday Night Special" laws were passed in order to keep poor people from buying guns, buying into the 'poorly made/dangerous' argument is just swallowing the anti's argument hook, line and sinker.Bruce Jennings came and talked to our NRA Members Council a few years ago and (if my failing memory serves) they had been sued about 140 times for 'defective' products and had WON every single suit! Doesn't sound defective to me, just inexpensive.
    Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
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