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Gun injury due to defects and product liability

On Behalf of | Aug 5, 2016 | Products Liability

Guns have been a hot topic in the news as the country is nearing the next presidential election. Regardless of which side one may fall on, the right to bear arms is still upheld as a constitutional right. But, the dangers of a gun does not only exist at the end of the barrel. Rather, just like any other product, guns can cause injuries due to some type of product defect. And, the type of law that compensates those injured by defective products, including guns, is called product liability, which is an area of company negligence under Pennsylvania law.

When people think about injuries caused by guns, they usually think about murder or violence. But, the reality is that guns can accidentally malfunction. If the gun was defective and malfunctioned or did not come with a proper failure to warn, there may be a case for product liability. There are several ways that a gun defect can cause injury to the consumer.

The first way to hold a gun manufacturer is a marketing defect or a failure to warn. If there was not proper instruction on how to operate a safety, for example, and the unclear instructions led to injury, there could be a case. Also, if a design choice by the manufacturer made the product inherently dangerous (for example, the trigger was longer than necessary) and made the gun prone to misfire, this could constitute product liability. There are other scenarios that could quality for a product liability lawsuit as well.

Guns are a consumer product that many do not think about when they think about product liability cases. Nonetheless, guns can have defects in their design, marketing or manufacturing that can cause harm to the consumer. These cases have specific details that will need to be fully investigated and given evidence of it an injured party wants to seek and receive damages. This process can be lengthy, but it can be extremely worth the trouble.

Source: Injury.FindLaw.com, “Product Liability and Guns,” accessed on Aug. 1, 2016

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