Firm Told to Stop Making Handgun
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A Costa Mesa firearms company has been ordered to stop manufacturing an inexpensive handgun after the weapon failed several safety tests.
Jimenez Arms, formerly known as Bryco Arms, was ordered by the California Department of Justice in January to stop making its JA-9 model. Earlier, the agency ordered company owner Paul Jimenez to stop selling the automatic pistol.
In a Jan. 13 letter to Jimenez, authorities told him the handgun would be subjected to new safety tests. If the weapon passes the tests, the company will be allowed to resume sales.
The pistol was tested by three state-certified laboratories last year and failed each time. The tests were ordered by attorney Richard R. Ruggieri, a critic of Jimenez Arms and its predecessor. Ruggieri provided the test results to state officials.
Ruggieri represents Brandon Maxfield, a Northern California teenager who was left a quadriplegic a decade ago after being shot accidentally with a defectively designed Bryco gun. He was awarded nearly $51 million in compensatory damages by a jury in 2003.
Jimenez, Bryco’s former plant manager, bought the company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in June.
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