100% agree with this Andy.
Far too many folks seem to think the presence of a safety on a gun somehow absolves them from using proper muzzle and trigger discipline. It's almost like thinking of using a seat belt as a reason to drive like an idiot - the seat belt won't save you from stupid decisions. If people followed the very simple rules of never pointing a gun at someone/something they don't intend to shoot AND treated every gun as if it were loaded (meaning loaded and ready to fire), many of these incidents wouldn't happen.
I don't know if Remington is liable in some way because I don't know the whole story. But it seems to me some poor choices were made when it was decided that carrying a loaded/chambered gun on a slippery and dangerous trail was a good idea. If Remington is somehow liable, it shouldn't absolve the father from a share of the responsibility for this incident. Unfortunately bad choices lead to sometimes sad and devastating results. It strikes me as odd how many folks don't see that.
I am reminded of an incident a while back where I was helping someone learn to shoot. I was working on a grip on a revolver with them and the gun was pointed toward the ground, away from both of us. I was instructing how to adjust their grip and as I was addressing one issue, he misunderstood and had put his finger on the trigger, which I didn't catch as I was looking at him at that moment, explaining what to do - when all of a sudden bang!, a shot fired into the dirt a few feet in front of us. I had not caught his finger moving onto and pulling the trigger - which he had done believing he was following my instruction. Miscommunication and my lapse on what his trigger finger was doing led to that shot being fired. Thankfully, because we strictly followed the muzzle safety rule, no one was hurt. But it made an impression on both of us. Being safe requires undivided attention to a variety of factors - compromise on any of them and something could go very wrong. Things ended up okay that day and we both learned something in the process - that muzzle discipline can save a life, and that distraction can take one. In this case, following one of the rules saved us from a potential disaster when another rule (finger off the trigger until ready to shoot) wasn't followed.
