Friday, July 11, 2008

We're the Only Ones Shifting the Blame Enough

A retired Los Angeles police officer paralyzed when his 3-year-old son fired his father's handgun while riding in the family pickup in Anaheim two years ago filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the gun's manufacturer.

...and the holster maker, and the stores that sold him both. I think he forgot the ammo maker and the people who authorized him to be an "Only One" and carry a gun, as that option is not available to mere citizens in LA County.

I can't feel sorry for this man--not with his doing this. The most I can hope for is to keep a rein on my contempt and not say anything cruel.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah! My motorcycle does not have seatbelts or doors!

I suppose if I deem something unsafe, I could decide not to own it. I suppose I could also take precautionary measures.

Of course, those things don't put money in my bank account.

Anonymous said...

Seems to be saying if one can get a gun out of a holster, the holster is defective.
Seems to be saying a child can figure out how to pull a trigger but would NEVER figure out how to slide a safety lever.
Seems to be saying one should be able to leave a gun in the back seat with a toddler, loaded, and not expect bad things.
How come he's not sueing the shooter? How come Child Protective Services hasn't removed the son from this dangerous environment?

David Codrea said...

You reminded me of my reaction to those demanding gun be made "fool proof," Defender:

There you have it, their true goal, laid out in black and white. The only acceptable guns are those which can be handled in complete safety by fools. Forget responsibility and accountability. Forget training and judgment. Forget the fact that life is fraught with risks and benefits and tradeoffs. Forget individual freedom and inalienable rights. Unless a drooling moron can hold the gun in his toes and gnaw on the barrel and yank back on the trigger with his (presumably opposable) thumbs in utter and oblivious tranquillity, it must be banned.

But it seems I read somewhere that anyone who thinks he's come up with a fool-proof device has underestimated the ingenuity of fools.

Anonymous said...

Seemingly by this lawsuit this bozo has no accountability and the citizens are better off that he's been taking off the beat.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are correct David. Before going to the dark side and becoming a sales manager, I used to be a motion control & machine vision applications engineer. Our clients and bosses were always insisting we had to make the machines we built "idiot proof". Well, the problem with that is, every time we thought we had a machine so locked down a toddler couldn't hurt himself on it, they just came out with better idiots.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

The most I can hope for is to keep a rein on my contempt and not say anything cruel.


That you can do so--or even hope to--is because you're a good, honorable man. I, however, suffer from no such limitations.