Columnist Paula DelGiudice: Lawsuit filed against Daisy Co.

Paula DelGiudice

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 11:32 a.m.

Paula Del Giudice's outdooors column appears Thursday. Reach her at desertdenizens@aol.com.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has filed a lawsuit against Daisy Manufacturing Co., maker of the Red Ryder BB gun, that seeks to force Daisy to recall two of its popular BB gun models.

Daisy has been selling one of the models for nearly 30 years and has sold the other model since 1984. If the suit is successful 7.5 million guns would be up for recall.

Since 1981, Daisy has passed six reviews by the CPSC, according to the Wall Street Journal. The defect the commission claims to have found in the Daisy rifles is actually common to the entire air gun industry.

The Wall Street Journal reported that this lawsuit may be more about politics than safety.

"Former Commission Chairman Ann Brown needed one last hurrah before she resigned, and what better target than air guns?" the Journal wrote.

"They've been on the 'naughty' list of zero-tolerance types for years -- gender-neutral, antiviolence folks don't want little boys playing with toy soldiers, much less real hardware. And a victory over Daisy (which along with other BB gun makers has a spotless record of self-regulation) would mean control over the whole market, 100 million BB guns strong. Even if the lawsuit fails, the commission might be able to scare retailers into dropping the products for fear of liability."

The commission claims that the BBs in the gravity-fed magazine might get stuck, causing kids to think their gun was unloaded and thus to handle it unsafely.

The company wrote: "It is important to note that the CPSC has reviewed these same models regularly over the past 20 years, most recently in 1999, and found them to be safe with no defects.

"The models being reviewed by CPSC are sold only to people who are at least 16 years of age and should be used only under the supervision of an adult. Those models also contain numerous safety features."

Traditionally hunters have been required to mail in a card to report their harvest or lack of harvest for the big game tag they drew. Now that same information can be reported online, saving time and postage.

By law, all hunter return cards must be submitted, either electronically via the website, or the old-fashioned way by U.S. postal mail, by Jan. 31, 2002.

Classes cost $5 and are taught year-round by NDOW volunteer instructors. Call 486-5127, ext. 3504.