WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Fortress Safe has announced a recall of about 61,000 biometric gun safes after a 12-year-old boy died from a firearm obtained from one of these safes.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the biometric lock on the gun safes can be opened by unauthorized users, posing a serious injury hazard and risk of death.
The statement says that the consumers can believe they have properly programmed the biometric feature when in fact the safe remains in the default to open mode, which can allow unauthorized users, including children, to access the safe to remove hazardous contents, including firearms.
CPSC is aware of a recent lawsuit alleging a 12-year-old boy died from a firearm obtained from one of these safes. There have been 39 incidents of consumers reporting that their safes have been accessed by unpaired fingerprints.
The company has asked customers to immediately stop using the biometric feature, remove the batteries from the safe, and only use the key for the recalled safes being used to store firearms.
They have been advised to contact Fortress Safes to receive instructions on disabling the biometric feature and to receive a free replacement safe.
The recalled safes were sold at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, Scheel's, Sportsman's Guide, Optics Planet, Dick's Sporting Goods, Gander, Rural King, Lowe's and other stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com and Ebay.com from January 2019 through October 2023 for between $44 and $290.
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