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8 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 13 (1997)
Unsafe by Design: Using Tort Actions to Reduce Firearm-Related Injuries

handle is hein.journals/stanlp8 and id is 19 raw text is: Unsafe By Design: Using Tort Actions To Reduce Firearm-Related Injuries by Mark D. Polston and Douglas S. Weil In April 1995, Griffin and Lynn Dix filed a wrongful death [loth thE action in Alameda County, t hi California against Beretta U.S.A. and the m Corp., a company that designs and manufactures firearms. The have th Dixes filed suit after their son, Kenzo, was shot and killed by a prevent inj fourteen-year-old friend with the a friend's father's 9mm Beretta Imposid semi-automatic handgun. liability w According to the complaint, the friend took the gun from a camera financia bag that was sitting by his father's bed, removed its loaded to ammunition magazine, and replaced it with an empty one. Unaware that a single round of ammunition remained in the firing chamber of the gun, the friend aimed the gun at Kenzo and pulled the trigger. Within minutes, Kenzo bled to death on the floor of his friend's bedroom. In addition to Beretta, the Dixes sued the parents of the youth who shot Kenzo, alleging that they were negligent for storing the gun in a manner that permitted their son to have easy access to it. Under California law, improper storage of a firearm (defined as leaving a gun loaded and easily accessible to a child under the age of fourteen) which results in injury is punishable as a criminal offense.2 The gun owners in this case were not criminally liable because their son was fourteen at the gun owner anufacturer ability to 0ury, and the on of civil uld create a I incentive to so. time of the shooting. Nonetheless, the parents of the shooter paid the Dixes $100,000 to settle the civil lawsuit. The Dixes allege that the gun that killed their son was defectively designed. They contend that it presented an unacceptable risk of grave danger because foreseeable misusers, such as inquisitive children, would not understand that a bullet might remain in the gun's firing chamber even after the ammunition magazine had been removed. They further claim that gun manufacturers have long had the ability to make handguns safer by designing them so they can be fired only by an authorized user-in effect personalizing them to the intended user. Kenzo Dix was one of approximately 1400 people in 1994 who died as a result of an unintentional shooting.3 His death illustrates three characteristics commonly associated with unintentional shootings: (1) Gun owners often leave their weapons loaded and readily accessible to unauthorized users; (2) untrained users cannot always tell whether a gun is loaded; and (3) most handgun designs permit firing by anyone, including children as young as three years old.4 This article explores the potential for using the two common law tort claims asserted by the Dixes as a vehicle for reducing the number of firearm injuries and deaths that result from child access to poorly designed VOLUME 8:1 1997 Mark Polston, J.D., is an attorney with the Legal Action Project at the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. Douglas Wei Sc.D., is the Director of Research for the Center.

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