Hokey religions and ancient weapons...
D | Thursday, October 20, 2005

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... are no match for a good blaster at your side.
-Solo, ANH

And so it will remain in the United States. Today the House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 397 - a bill which prohibits individuals from bringing vexacious litigation against gun manufacturers (Yahoo! article). Feel free to review the text of the bill here.

I am torn on my support for this bill. The text of the bill itself is perfectly reasonable - indeed people who use a product for its intended purpose and end up hurting themselves should not be able to sue the manufacturer of that product (unless the product itself was defective). Suggesting that your client should sue a car company if they get drunk and crash their car, hurting themselves in the process, is bordering on unethical. Before an injured Plaintiff drags corporate America into the courtroom, we should be damn sure we have a valid claim.

Nonetheless, I am a Democrat and I am in favor of strong and meaningful gun control laws. The message and tone of this legislation doesn't help in the fight for tougher gun laws. Don't get me wrong - I think guns, used properly and safely, are fine. I've been educated on gun safety and enjoyed my experiences with recreational gun usage. But I agree with Josh, "We can all get together on the granade launcher right?" (WW, Season 1, Ep 4). There are some weapons that are not for recreation and are not for self defense and exist solely for military use - I think we should be able to find a happy medium and keep the ridiculously destructive and dangerous weapons out of civilian hands.

In addition, while I am well aware that the legal issues present signifigant differences, we sued the tobacco industry and won. Now we have a law banning any litigation against the firearm industry. This basically means we won't be able to push the industry into more self-regulation via litigation. No warning labels on barrell of your 22 or websites to discuss firearm addiction. But that's OK - we will continue fighting the good fight through legislative avenues, which is fine, but a much slower process.

If you're curious about gun deaths in the US, check out some stats compared to other countries here.

D | 10/20/2005 07:31:00 PM |   Post your comment

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Comments:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with you! I also enjoyed the link; very informative.
Ruvym | October 21, 2005 12:58 AM | permalink
 

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What's so bad about agreeing with me?
D | October 21, 2005 1:52 PM | permalink
 

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You know, the whole conservative/liberal thing? It makes for good drama too. Like "Desperate Housewives," but with politics.
Ruvym | October 22, 2005 2:07 AM | permalink
 

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