"Real" Manuals

13 Jan 08

Comments on "Instructions for Use" manuals supplied with new pistols, from a friend with a large gun manufacturer:

"John, give us a break! Manuals that delicately skirt all the 'real,' intended use of manufactured products are not unique to our industry. In fact, if you want a good laugh, look at the ones that come with ladders, ATVs, even vacuum cleaners. You and I would be rolling in dough if we had pioneered the 'warning-label' business thirty years ago!

Until this industry finds a way to shield ourselves from predatory, frivolous, preposterous lawsuits, I don't see anything changing. Every year, we spend mortifying amounts of money dealing with idiot litigation. Most are dismissed. Some are settled. Only a minuscule few ever go to trail. But, in the lawsuit business, there isn't much monetary difference between cases that are 'won' or 'lost.' Either way, we have to pay an army of lawyers obscene fees, because all cases, even the most stupid, must be taken seriously.

Bubba or Bubbette buys one of our guns, dips it in Vaseline, sticks it up their ass, and pulls the trigger. Without fail, their 'estate' subsequently sues us, because we didn't specifically warn against that act in our manual! Again, we may be successful in getting the case laughed out of court, but it will cost us a fortune either way. We have dozens of these going at any one time!

In addition, we're obligated to actively lobby against reams of new, unbelievably-stupid, proposed gun laws, at every level of government. An example (where we lost!) is CA's new ' firing-pin-has-to-transfer-the-serial-number-to-fired-cases' law. CA, like NJ before it, has nonchalantly mandated a technology that does not exist. We have no idea if we will be able to comply, at any cost, and we're disinclined to even try. We may well have to stopselling guns in CA!

Oh, how I would love to include in our Instructions for Use Manual a chapter on how to properly carry loaded pistols and how use our pistols to fatally shoot, deader than shit, burglary suspects in the process of invading your home! But, you, better than most, know what kind of screwed-up legal system we have to live with, and, in the process, do our best to make a living, pay our bills, meet our payroll, and maybe even design new products, in our spare time!

If we ever decide to throw caution to the wind and start writing real manuals, you'll be the first one we'll call. In the interim, John, don't hold your breath!"

Comment: The United States is in the process of being de-industrialized. Over-regulated, over-snooped, over-taxed, over-litigated, and viciously vilified by politicians and the media alike, manufacturers are understandably throwing up their hands and moving operations off-shore, or closing their doors for good. Why is anyone surprised?

In another twenty years, we're all going to be sitting around a table trying to sell each other insurance, because no one will be making anything!

/John