19 Dec 03

More information on The Detroit Press' "expert" consultant from a friend who does a lot more expert legal consulting than I do:

"Carter Lord bills himself as a gunsmith and firearms consultant. He was my opposing expert a year ago in the Grunow Case (involving a Raven pistol in 25auto) in Florida, which we won and they lost.

The case was a civil suit, brought by the wife of Mr Grunow, against the pistol distributor and others (the actual manufacturer, Raven, has been out of business for years). Carter Lord's position was that the diminutive Raven 2 5, which had been manufactured in the early 1980s, should, by everything that i s right and just, have incorporated a built-in locking device. This, despite the fact that there were only two firearms they could name that had ever been ma de with any kind of built-in lock, both virtually unknown and both long-since out of production, the defunct Fox/Demro 45ACP carbine, and an obscure revol ver, at one time made by H&R.

Lord's position was, nonetheless, that a built-in, internal lock could easily' have been incorporated in the Raven, and that the pistol was inherently defective' for not having such a gizmo. Our position was: 'Oh reall y! If that's the case, why don't you 'easily' make one yourself, and then bring it here, so we can all examine it?'

He took the challenge, and, over the course of the following year, cobbled together four, successive prototypes of Raven pistols with built-in locks. T he sequence of prototypes was necessary, because each, in turn, was shown to ha ve fatal flaws, which Lord himself admitted (or, which we pointed out, and he then grudgingly acknowledged). This painful and expensive charade served on ly to discredit Lord himself and his dubious position that the manufacturer could ' easily' have incorporated an effective, built-in lock in the (retail $50.00) pistol. Maybe it wasn't so 'easy,' after all!

At long last, the culmination of Lord's efforts, the final and really improved' version of Raven-with-lock, was proudly presented to me at my depo sition. I took the contraption, which I had never seen before, and promptly unlocked it using only a paperclip, rather than with Lord's artistically crafted, ' special,' key, which was, no doubt, intended to impress a jury (something an yone would be proud to carry on their keyring, to unlock their pistol, in case th ey suddenly needed to shoot someone!) After unlocking the thing with a paperclip, I locked it again and then unlocked it multiple times, using seve ral universally available tools, including a screwdriver. So much for high security.' Needless to say, they lost the case!"

Comment: These are the kinds of charlatans who make their living in suits against gun manufacturers, distributors and retailers. We are in desperate n eed of tort reform in this country!

/John

19 Dec 03

On the new military rifle caliber, from a friend close to the issue:

"The 5.56 NATO round is so entrenched, it is difficult to make changes. The Army knows full well it cannot do the job, yet they don't want to redo rifles. The Navy and Marines are Gung Ho for the new round, but they don't have enough pull by themselves. It looks to be a long time before anyone except special teams has it. Even special teams will be lucky to get it!"

Comment: There were indications that the new, 6.8mm round was on the fast track. Now, it is looking as if the whole project has stalled. "Nothing is too good for our men!"

/John