Guns and responsibility

Wisdom of the week

[Reprinted from Issues & Views September 10, 2001]

Sometimes sanity prevails. In both New York State and in California, courts have ruled that gun manufacturers cannot be held liable for the actions of people who choose to buy and use guns. This news has not, however, put a damper on a trial now in progress in Utah. There, in May, a 19-year-old committed suicide with a shotgun that he purchased at a K-mart store. The dead man's parents are now suing the store chain for "wrongful death," claiming that the clerk, an acquaintance of their son, should never have sold him the gun. Syndicated columnist Dick Boland has this to say about such lawsuits and about personal responsibility in general:

The idea that a company can be sued because someone misused its product is absurd. It's like blaming automobile companies, who tout their cars on racetracks all over the nation, for your speeding ticket. After all, the car can reach speeds of over 200 mph, and you were just a victim of a marketing ploy.

Owning a gun is no different than owning an automobile or, for that matter, a knife. All three result in numerous deaths each year because they were used maliciously. Blaming the manufacturer for misuse of his product is business for lawyers and has nothing to do with right or wrong--and everything to do with a fee or a share of the loot if they win.

Guns will always fall into the wrong hands, and criminals are not going to be governed by any of the gun laws. The gun laws have but one purpose: to discourage honest citizens from purchasing and owning firearms.

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