Posts by ignored

Gun victim plans takeover revenge on manufacturer
Dan Glaister Wednesday June 16, 2004
The Guardian A teenager paralysed by a gun accident 10 years ago is planning to buy the company that makes the weapon fired in the incident at a bankruptcy auction tomorrow.
Brandon Maxfield, now 17, was left paralysed when a babysitter fired a handgun owned by his parents.
Last year a jury awarded him $51m (£27.8m) damages, of which the gun manufacturer was made liable for $23m.
The following day Bryco Arms filed for bankruptcy. But the Maxfields' lawyers became suspicious when a $150,000 bid to buy the company was made by a former plant foreman.
At the same time as Bruce Jennings, the owner of Bryco, declared that he planned to retire from the business, his wife applied for a firearms sales licence.
Mr Maxfield is appealing on a website (brandonsarms.org) for donations to help him buy the company, which specialises in cheap firearms known as "Saturday night specials".
He plans to melt down the stock of 60,000 unassembled guns and close the company.
His lawyer, Richard Ruggieri, told USA Today: "The critical issue...is [preventing] the business from just being flipped over and continuing."
Bryco was found liable on the grounds that the faulty design of its gun, the P-38 semi-automatic, was partly to blame for the incident.
To unload it the safety catch had to be released. Mr Maxfield, then seven years old, was hit in the chin while the babysitter was trying to unload the weapon.
The babysitter and Mr Maxfield's parents were also found liable.
Mr Ruggieri told the website jointogether.org: "We're making an appeal for a white knight, if you will, to come forward and say, 'I don't want to see millions of these junk guns put back on the street. I'll pony up some money, sell off the machinery and maybe recover half of my money, and take a tax deduction for the rest'."
Bryco is one of many cheap gunmakers in an area of south California known for that reason as the "Ring of Fire".
They sprang up after the passing of the 1968 Gun Control Act, which banned the importation of cheap guns from abroad. Several companies in the Ring of Fire have sought bankruptcy and in the process they have avoided legal liability for incidents involving their firearms.
One had a total of 18 claims pending.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan introduced a bill which would have prevented the tactic but it was defeated by Republicans, who argued that it would harm business.
Bryco is a highly successful gun manufacturer, two of whose weapons were in the top 10 firearms listed by the US government in a report in 2000 on guns used in crime.
The industry is exempted from US consumer safety controls: manufacturers cannot be prosecuted or fined by the state for breaches, although they can, as in this case, be sued by individual plaintiffs.
"There's nothing to prevent them from making the same defective guns and selling them on the streets, as long as they're willing to face the consequences in civil court - and I think that's exactly what they plan to do under a different name," Mr Ruggieri said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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Ignored One.

10

Pledge

by Yerusalyim in

did i miss it or have we decided not to talk about the dismal and disappointing decision of the us supreme court vis a vis the words "under god" in the pledge of allegiance?

ignored_one

You know, if we are but dust, does this mean that i've been cleaning dead people off my coffee table?

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Ignored One.

51

One more victory for the Christians and it sucks!!!

by Atilla in

i saw that today the supreme court threw out the case with the atheist father arguing that the under god phrase in the pledge of allegiance was unconstitutional.

i guess the case was thrown out on a technicality because the daughter does not live with her father but with her christian mother thus making the father's case invalid.

i knew about this case but i did not realize that is was dubbie prez.

ignored_one

I see the old "atheism is a religion" crap is still being thrown around.

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Ignored One.

10

Pledge

by Yerusalyim in

did i miss it or have we decided not to talk about the dismal and disappointing decision of the us supreme court vis a vis the words "under god" in the pledge of allegiance?

ignored_one

I use Pledge when i'm dusting.

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Ignored One.

15

Check out what John Kerry's wife pays for!!!

by avishai in

jw
friends

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nice, huh?.

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ignored_one

bisous,

If you think newsmax is biased wait till someone starts pasting articles from RWN (Right Wing News).

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Ignored One.

39

What are you listening to as you read?

by reboot in

jw
friends

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can't get over how good the new jet album get born is...there's a definate t-rex resurrection revival going on here....with a little ac/dc thrown in for good measure ..its awesome...some amazing acoustic guitar based guitar ballads too- a real ecclectic mix that hangs really well together..got to have the headphones on though as its got to be loud..now all i have to do is hope they get better before glastonbury.

what are you listening to tonight?

ignored_one

A cd I compiled for my trip to Florida.

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Ignored One.

22

Four films worth seeing

by MegaDude in

some films have been released recently on dvd that i thought were really good.

i give 'em all a big thumbs up.

if you see them, let me know what you thought of them.. 1.

ignored_one

Saw Dirty Pretty Things and City of God at the cinema over here.

Both very good films. I wanted to see City of God again straight after watching it. I didn't though as it was the last showing.

So,

Is Saved and Mean Girls any good? I rather like comedies with a bit of bite to them.

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Ignored One.

152

It?s official!!! The Olson Twins are Legal!!!

by Elsewhere in

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the dream of many men has come true... over the weekend they turned 18!

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ignored_one

FD,

Lol.

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Ignored One.

97

An average Americans view of the French people

by Maverick in

i have just returned from spending a week in the company of frenchbabyface, (fbf) and would like to share some basic observation that i feel will enlighten my fellow countrymen and women about a people we, as a culture, actually know very little about.

i do believe the medias of both countries do not show their people an honest and forthright view of the other countries people.

the american media gives us almost no news of france and most of what we do get is not very positive.

ignored_one

Hillary,

What did you think of Lucas Belvaux's recent Trilogy? I was going to watch them while they were showing at quite a few of the cinemas in London but never got round to it. Think I'll grab the dvd boxset that's just come out.

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Ignored One.

ignored_one

Posts by ignored_one