Should the manufacturers of the products we use everyday be held liable for any injuries arising from the misuse of their product, even when they take all the necessary precautions to ensure they are selling a safe product? For example, should a bicycle manufacturer be held liable for the injuries resulting from someone failing to properly land a daredevil stunt that they saw on television, or should a car manufacturer be held liable for injuries resulting from someone who purposefully used the car to mow down another person? The answer is simply that no, they shouldn’t. They’ve done nothing wrong. The product they sold was fully capable of performing the function it was designed for at the time it transferred ownership.Why then did the Senate kill a bill (S.1806) that would have protected gun manufacturers from similar liability, such as when their products were used in crimes? More importantly, why did the bill specify gun manufacturers? Why couldn’t this bill apply to all manufacturers from such liability? It seems as if it would be a benefit to many more industries than just the gun industry.
On its face, the bill seemed like a good idea, prohibiting civil liability resulting from the misuse of the gun manufacturer’s products by others. But why should this even be a debatable point? No one, or no company should be held responsible for someone else’s misuse of their product. Seriously, are people going to sue the gun manufacturers for making a gun that fires bullets? That’s what they’re supposed to do!
Absolutely no one, but you is responsible for your actions. If you decide to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day for the next 20 years, and then wind up with lung cancer, it’s no one’s fault but your own. If you buy a handgun and shoot someone with it, it’s no one’s fault but your own. With that said, if you are the victim of a violent crime where you got shot by someone, don’t try to blame anyone but the person who shot you. It’s no one’s fault but theirs. Assuming the criminal was in possession of the firearm legally, the firearms manufacturer, ammunition manufacturer, importer, and sales person who sold the gun to the future criminal should face no liability. How were they supposed to know that the person they sold the gun to would use it in a crime?
The next thing you know, Microsoft is going to get sued, because a hacker used their operating system while hacking into someone else’s computer. Or an alarm clock manufacturer will face civil liability after someone wakes up late because they forgot to set the alarm. This pattern isn’t going to end either. It’s been a slippery slope since before the big tobacco lawsuits a few years ago.
We, as a society, keep targeting businesses to compensate us for our wrongs. Lawsuits cost these companies billions of dollars, many of which can’t recover from such a blow. With such a “friendly” legal environment here in the United States, it’s no wonder that they want to move their operations overseas.
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