Thousands of biometric gun safes recalled due to faulty locks

(WHTM) - Thousands of biometric gun safes sold by multiple companies have been recalled due to faulty locks, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Four separate safe recalls were announced by the commission Thursday morning, all citing the risk of access by unauthorized users due to faulty biometric locks.

The commission said this poses both serious injury hazards and risk of death if the safes are being used to store firearms.

The four recalls were issued by the companies Awesafe, BBRKIN, Bulldog Cases and Machir.

No injuries associated with these recalls have been reported to date, according to the commission.

For all four recalls, the commission is instructing consumers to immediately stop using the biometric feature, remove the batteries and only use the key when storing firearms.

Consumers are also being told to contact the companies directly for instructions on how to disable their safe's biometric features and receive a free replacement.

Model and serial numbers and additional information for each recall can be viewed on the CPSC website. The commission's recall announcements and the companies' contact information are listed below.

The recalls come just over three months after the CPSC announced another recall of about 61,000 biometric gun safes sold by Fortress Safe.

In a notice of that October recall released to consumers, the company wrote, "Fortress Safe is aware of a recent lawsuit alleging that a 12-year-old boy died from a firearm obtained of safes."

According to the Pew Research Center, the overall number of U.S. gun deaths has risen in recent years.

According to 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, Pennsylvania's firearm death rate is 14.8 per 100,000.