I'm no lawyer, but the biggest problem I see is that this issue was pointed out by the original engineer almost immediately and nothing was done about it.

It's one thing if and unexpected and previously unknown flaw is discovered years after a product is released. A company cannot be expected to test out every single possible thing and discover/fix everything.

But, when a flaw is reported by your own engineer almost immediately, there really is no defense for not fixing it, at least in the next production run if nothing else. If a "safety issue" is reported to a company and they do nothing, then they have a problem.

I don't see this as a "gun industry" issue, it's a product issue that can and should be applied to any product from any company. If the designer himself reports a safety issue, they you better either fix it or prove he's wrong by testing/analysis.

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