05Aug04

One of my students who works at a well known law firm recently sent me this :

"John, one of our longtime real estate clients just came to us with a self-inflicted bullet wound to his hand. He shot himself, by accident, whi le administratively handing his new Daewoo DP51 'fast-action' p istol. He carelessly had the gun pointed at his own hand as he was dithering with it. With this

pistol, after chambering a round and thus cocking the hammer, the hammer sp ur can be disconnected from the hammer itself and manually pushed forward, giving the appearance to the casual observer that it is at rest, when it is , in fact, fully cocked. Pressing the trigger instantly reconnects the spur to the hammer. The hammer falls and causes the pistol to discharge. This client has asked us to sue Daewoo on his behalf, because he has convinced himself that this 'fast action' system employed by Daewoo is =98inherently unsafe," and thus 'inherently defective.'"

My reply:

"I haven't seen a DP51 in a course yet, but there are several other pistols that also use the 'fast-action' system you described. It's a way of carrying 'cocked & locked' while conveying the impression to observer s (and yourself) that the hammer is all the way forward. It has never garnered much popularity in this country, but the system is available on a number of pist ols to those who think they want it.

For a serious pistol, it is nothing I recommend. Self-deception is never healthy. As you know, for most gun carriers, I recommend trigger-cocking pistols. However, in the incident you described it strikes me that the perso n who shot himself would have done so, in a similar manner, with any pistol. Peo ple who routinely point guns at their own bodies eventually shoot themselves, a nd the particular type of gun rarely makes any difference.

You also know my opinion on suits against gun companies, particularly as a result of careless, self-inflicted injuries, which could have easily been prevented by even the slightest application of correct gun-handling principl es that both you and I routinely teach. People who shoot themselves through personal carelessness deserve nothing, save a stern admonition to be more c areful.

In summary, the 'fast-action' system you described is not fo und on ' mainstream' pistols, but it is still perfectly functional and probab ly perfectly legitimate, even if it would not be my personal first choice. My non-lawyer

advice is to tell this person to be more careful around guns and stop askin g the rest of us to pay for his own stupidity."

I just received this reply:

"John, per your advice, we gave our client back his pistol and diplomatically told him that he really needed to be more careful. There wi ll be no litigation."

Comment: Thank God for honest lawyers!

/John