Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Righteous litigation

 I heard on the morning news that a group is filing a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the gun used in the Sandy Hook shootings. They feel Remington should be held liable because the gun was too deadly. Remington naturally wants the suit dropped. There are several things to be considered here. First, was the gun illegally manufactured ? No, it was not. Is any one gun more deadly than another ? I submit that the only difference between them may be the rapidity in which they can be fired. As far as being deadly, that depends upon the marksman or just plain bad luck. All guns are deadly weapons ! And so I don't feel Remington is any more liable for the actions of a crazed individual than Ford motor company would be for a drunk driver. The manufacturer has no control over how the product is used.
 I can not truly know the feelings of those that lost their children or others that day. I can only imagine the grief, anger and frustration. The act of a crazed gunman is something none of us can understand. What I do know is we can not expect to litigate the mental health of others. Litigation is the process of obtaining justice for a wrongdoing. Suing the manufacturer of a product can not provide a remedy for its' misuse. Are manufacturers to be held accountable for their legally produced products performing as advertised. Guns, of any type are designed to shoot a projectile downrange. Some are used for targets and others are used to kill. All guns, by their very nature, are deadly. So are hundreds of other products legally manufactured and sold in the United States. Are those manufacturers to be held accountable for their misuse as well ? All our products are plastered with warning and caution labels of all types. Those labels are supposed to " inform " the consumer of the inherent hazards and dangers in using the product. That is the extent to which a manufacturer has control of the product following the sale to the consumer.
 The bottom line here is that there is no remedy for the losses than were sustained that terrible day. No amount of money can replace those lives. Manufacturers can not be held accountable for what the consumer does with their product. Manufacturers can be held accountable if their product fails to perform as advertised or is somehow defective or deficit. Manufacturers can he held accountable for knowingly producing a product that is dangerous and those dangers are not made public. I don't believe anyone in the civilized world doesn't know a gun will kill !
 No the problem here is one of mental health. I will say this much, when right and wrong actions are determined by litigation and not morals, the society begins to fade. I often say, you cannot legislate morality and I believe that to be true. Now I know the Atheists and others will bristle but the removal of God from a society leads to exactly what we are seeing today. A lack of morals. What happened at Sandy Hook was the surfacing of pure evil. You can define that evil in any fashion you like, but it is evil nonetheless. Remington did not manufacture or promote any such evil. Who is to be held accountable ? The individual is to be held accountable. Why it happened can be discussed and analyzed for centuries but will never be known. There is no explanation for evil other than to say it is the opposite of righteousness. Righteousness stems from faith. It is true that even people of faith commit horrible deeds but we must remember we are human after all. It is a human failing when we commit evil. Don't try to blame anyone else for that, the fault lies within.

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