I was thinking...

Last night I watch Runaway Jury again. (By the way, Rachel Weisz is a hottie.) Anyways, I like this movie. The only problem I had with the film was that they made the gun company and their lawyers out to be the evil people while the families of gun violence out to be the innocent, perfectly moral people.

I understand that in the movie the woman was suing the gun company because they made it too easy for anyone on the street to get a hold of one of their semi-automatic assault weapons. I have no problem with making a gun company keep from giving criminals assault weapons.

The problem I have is when people want to sue all gun companies for the gun violence that our country has. It's not the gun companies' fault that Crazy Joe Postman went into his Post Office and slaughtered his fellow employees because he was tired of not getting a piece of cake at the office parties. It's not K-mart's fault that the bullets used came from their store. The only person that should be held responsible is the person pulling the trigger.

I mean... if you were to put a fully loaded gun on a stool... sit there and watch it... it would never shoot any one. Put that same gun in the hands of someone who's going to use the gun properly and there won't be any accidents. Now, put the gun in the hand of someone who wants to kill and he'll kill. The gun isn't responsible. The gun company isn't responsible. The person pulling the trigger is the only one responsible.

Furthermore, if we can sue a gun company for accidental deaths caused by their products... are we going to go sue swimming pool companies for the accidental drownings? I wish I could find the statistics, but I remember reading somewhere that a swimming pool is 14 times more likely to kill a child than a vehicle is. I also read that swimming pools take more lives each year than guns do. So... why pick and choose who's responsible when, in fact, each person should be responsible for themselves (or their children)?

When a drunk driver hits and kills someone on the road, we don't blame the alcohol... we don't blame the car dealership that sold the drunk his car... we don't blame the car company for making the car... and we don't sue the banks for making it so easy for just anyone to get a hold of a car... so why should we hold the gun companies responsible when someone uses their product in an incorrect manor?

This also relates to the lawsuits against McDonalds... McDonalds isn't responsible for your child being a fat ass. You, the parent, is responsible. How does that child get to McDonalds every day? It's not like McDonalds drives around kidnapping kids and force-feeding them their hamburgers. No... you... the parent... drags your kid there each day and allows him to shovel the hamburgers and fries in his mouth.

Smokers... if you get cancer... it's not the tobacco company's fault. You know that smoking isn't exactly pumping your body full of vitamins. Everyone (even kindergarteners) knows that smoking can be harmful and that it can cause cancer. If you choose to use the product anyways... it's your own fault if you develop cancer. It's not like you weren't warned.

And all of this rant boils down to taking responsibility for your actions. If you do "X" knowing that "Y" is going to be the result of "X"'s action... then you are the only one to blame. You are the one that needs to man up and say "This is my fault."

America's mentality of "Nothing's my fault, everything is the big corporation's fault" drives me insane.