Sandy Hook familes sue...well, pretty much everyone

People comparing guns to cars are so entrenched in their own gun fetish that they can't see the gaping holes in their logic.

In the 20th century there absolutely were a load of shenanigans by the car industry to promote their product and influence governments to favour the private car over other modes of transport, but at the moment, the motor industry is heavily regulated, the safety and emmissions standards applied to car manufacturing are getting more stringent every year, taxes on fuels are increasing and there are legal responsibiities on car manufacturers to ensure that the products they sell are maximally safe for the end users (hence the multiple product recalls that every large manufacturer has to go through to fix safety issues with their cars)

As well as this, most developed countries are increasing restrictions on the ownership and use of cars. Drink driving limits are reducing, taxes on fuels are increasing, there are compulsary vehicle safety checks, more stringent speed checks, penalty points for a wide variety of offences.

States and car manufacturers are doing everything practical to make car use and ownership as safe as possible.

On the other hand we have gun manufacturers who are manufacturing and selling products with the sole purpose of being as dangerous as possible. Where the manufacturers are extremely active in lobbying to prevent the introductions of regulations and safety measures to reduce the risks associated with gun ownership

Where other than America are fully automatic weapons sold as recreational items to the general public? This is almost entirely down to the NRA and other arms industry lobby groups who have spent generations and billions of dollars on PR and political donations

In the civilised world, if a disgruntled employee or an alienated teenager wants to go on a shooting spree, they would need months or years of preparation and would raise all kinds of red flags in the meantime. In parts of the U.S. all they have to do is go down to 'a private seller' where they can buy pretty much anything they like without restriction or any licensing requirement. 40% of gun sales are done privately in America (many of them illegal).

The sale of firearms illegally is far far easier because firearms don't need to be registered or licensed in the U.S. and any proposals to intruduce registration or licensing are fought tooth and nail by the industry lobby groups.

Jester252 wrote: »

It's kinda sad that people are supporting this lawsuit. It is just a greedy lawyers trying to make a quick buck off devastated families.

I would be very surprised if the lawyers weren't doing this pro bono.

While legally, there is unlikely to be sufficient grounds for a negligence suit (at least there wouldn't be here), I imagine that given the complete failure of the federal and state legislatures to pass any proper gun control laws they feel this is the only avenue open to them.

Beano wrote: »

i'm going to ignore the same, tired, anti-gun arguments but this bit is bull****. you cant just walk into walmart and come out with an automatic weapon. they are federally regulated and require a lot of time and expense to purchase. and when i say expense i mean sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. the type of person who goes to that sort of trouble is not a danger to public. have a guess how many people have been killed with legally held automatic weapons in the US since 1930?

Ok, I was wrong about fully automatic weapons being easy to buy in America, but a semi automatic weapon is still pretty damn dangerous and 40% of these guns are traded without any background checks, and can be converted to fully automatic mode with a custom bumb stock which is legal to buy and own (they're not very accurate with this 'upgrade' but if your intention is to spray a crowd with a hail of bullets, accuracy isn't really a top priority)
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Slide-Fire-AR-Stock/1403492.uts

Beano wrote: »

bump stocks are a novelty. nothing more. you watch too many movies.

A novelty that allows you to shoot hundreds of deadly rounds a minute but with reduced accuracy

I think I prefer whoopee cushions

Beano wrote: »

the type of person who goes to that sort of trouble is not a danger to public. have a guess how many people have been killed with legally held automatic weapons in the US since 1930?

How many?