Briefly in the news

In what is seen as yet another victory for gun safety litigation, a

New Mexico Supreme Court on Tuesday denied review of a July 27 decision

by that state’s Appellate Court that Bryco Arms, a major Costa Mesa-based

handgun manufacturer, has a duty to make and sell handguns with safety

features.

This ruling upholds the Appeals Court’s decision, the first such

appellate court ruling in New Mexico, that guns without reasonable safety

mechanisms can be unreasonably dangerous and, hence, defective.

The case was brought about on behalf of Sean Smith, a 14-year-old who

was unintentionally shot and injured by one of his friends after that

friend got ahold of a Bryco J-22 pistol. The ammunition magazine was

removed from it, but the boy did not see a round hidden in its chamber

when he pulled the trigger and shot Smith.

Smith’s lawyers argued that the gun lacked vital safety features, such

as a magazine disconnect, a chamber load indicator or warnings printed on

the gun that might have prevented that shooting.