It's About Time!

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Fri Mar 17, 11:36 pm

Big U.S. gun maker aims for safer guns

In a move supporters believe will save lives, the biggest gun manufacturer in the United States has agreed to install locks on its handguns.

Smith & Wesson promises to childproof the weapons by adding locks to the outside of the guns within 60 days. Internal locks will be put in new guns within two years.

Future handguns will also be limited to firing magazines containing 10 rounds of ammunition, the company pledged.

It also promised to spend two per cent of its annual revenues on more research into high-tech devices that would stop anyone but a gun's rightful owner from pulling the trigger.

In exchange for making the guns safer, U.S. federal, state, and local governments agreed to drop lawsuits against Smith & Wesson. It was accused of being responsible for deaths blamed on unsafe weapons.

U.S. President Bill Clinton called on other gun makers to adopt similar standards to make the country a safer place to live.

He said Smith & Wesson showed "courage and vision," and hinted the company should be rewarded with more government contracts when guns are purchased down the road.

"Smith & Wesson stuck their neck out here," Clinton said. "I think all of us, including the federal government, in our procurement policies . . . ought to send a clear signal that we appreciate what they did. This is a happy day."

Not everyone was enthusiastic. Some of the country's big gun makers questioned whether the move is a good idea. Others said they either already had some locks on guns, or planned to introduce them soon.

The National Rifle Association refused to comment, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation criticized Smith & Wesson for entering into an ill-conceived deal with Washington.

-- viewer (justp@ssing.by), March 18, 2000

Answers

And, you really think this well help! Gun don,t kill people do. Why don,t you think why are they killing other people. Guns don,t kill, people do! Teach what gun are for, how to us them safely, this is how I learned, Police are not there to protect, you they are there to investagate crime already done. You are on your own.

-- ET (bneville@zebra.net), March 18, 2000.

It's about time indeed. The time between the moment you realize you need a handgun and the moment that need becomes moot is often very short, and very likely to be less than the time required to find the keys to the trigger lock, remove that, look up the combination, press it in (calmly and carefully, of course), and then use the gun. Just ask your assailant to wait. Ask politely.

For pure target shooting, since you know the need to defend yourself will never arise (it only happens to other people, you know), the current strategem of locking guns up remains as workable as ever.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 18, 2000.


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