After son's fatal accident, father fights to make weapons safer

[SecularMotion]

Kenzo Dix rests at the top of a beautiful hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay. As the sun falls, the scene is tranquil.

It’s a late summer evening, and his father has come to visit, bearing flowers and words that are spoken only in his heart. It’s been a few months since Griffin Dix was last here, and he takes time to wipe the blades of grass and dirt from his son’s flat grave marker.

Nearly 20 years ago, Kenzo, a freshman at Berkeley High School in northern California, was buried here at Sunset Memorial Garden, the victim of a gun accident. His father lives in Kensington, within walking distance of the graveyard, but his visits have become less frequent over the years.

“We loved Kenzo very, very much,” Dix said.

http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20140102/after-sons-fatal-accident-father-fights-to-make-weapons-safer

[Duckhunter935]

1. Sad thing

Basic firearms safety should be taught to all. See a weapon don't touch get an adult. Weapons are always loaded, never point at any person. My Ruger has a chamber loaded indicator. Another feature that i have no issues with.

[gejohnston]

2. It seems the pistol has a magizine safety

and depending on the model, it probably had a loaded chamber indicator as well. This was an act of negligence and stupidity, not an accident. Always double check the chamber, never point the muzzle towards anyone even after clearing the weapon (defensive actions excepted of course.)
It isn't the gun, its the handler.
Walther began putting loaded chamber indicators on their pistols since the 1930s, and are very common on European made pistols. I'm certain many US companies use them as well.

[petronius]

5. The article says that Dix sued Beretta for not having a 'chamber loaded' indicator,

so I'd guess that the gun in question lacked one.

It's 20 years too late, but it seems to me that this would have been a good case in which to prosecute the parent of the boy who pulled the trigger - the kid was stupid, but the parent also was negligent...

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. Do you have any comments you'd care to add?

Or will this be another flyby posting?

[Duckhunter935]

4. flyby posting

the OP has no opinion on it I guess

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. It seems some don't care to engage in vigorous debate...

...and instead prefer the company of like-minded individuals

[Duckhunter935]

11. that other forum

is very busy, funny how they almost never post there. I guess they get off on trying to get a rise then fail spectacularly when it does not go their way. Then the name calling and penis jokes show up.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Shame they didn't learn from this and create a mandatory gun safety course.

But it's Berkeley, practically the birthplace of political correctness.

[ileus]

8. I like my LCI on the ruger...but it's not a replacement for an

actual press check.

[Duckhunter935]

9. very true

basic safety rules still apply. The LCI will turn black masking the red from carbon, they do get dirty.

[Straw Man]

10. There's so much wrong with what happened ...

... that I don't know where to begin.

Let's start with a 14-year-old who clearly had no training or education in firearms but had access to his father's handgun. He violated every single rule of safe handling. Then there's this:

Dix was able to forgive the child who shot his son, but couldn't forgive the gun manufacturer that made the weapon.

Apparently this pistol had a magazine safety. If he had left the magazine out after he removed it, instead of re-inserting it (empty), the pistol would not have fired. So it would appear that the only fault of the manufacturer was to have made a pistol that does not have a loaded-chamber indicator. Are we expected to believe that this person, who doesn't even know that removing a magazine from a semi-auto pistol does not unload the chamber, would know how to locate and interpret a loaded-chamber indicator? It's not like a big flashing neon sign: it's usually just a small red dot on the frame somewhere, or a pin that is either extended or not.

Ignorant, careless, negligent people are at fault here. Perhaps we can't blame the 14-year-old, but we can certainly blame the owner of the gun. I know that everyone loves the narrative where we all forgive each other and the big nasty corporation is really to blame, but that isn't always the case.

He later brought a lawsuit against Beretta for not having a chamber-loaded indicator on its guns, a marker that could have saved his son’s life, he believes.

He lost the case, but California later passed a law that forced gun manufacturers to install the devices.

What he believes is irrelevant. Obviously the judge or jury disagreed. California will pass almost any kind of law that restricts firearms, regardless of the efficacy. It's sort of a hobby of the state legislature.

This was a terrible tragedy. Guns are dangerous. I believe in mandatory training. But people who think that it's possible to idiot-proof dangerous implements are seriously underestimating the human potential for idiocy.

[Duckhunter935]

12. nicely put

[Bazinga]

15. Exactly, if you need a mechanical safety to keep you safe, you are doing something wrong! n/t

[Kaleva]

13. Gun in question had an LCI and explanation as to why father wasn't charged

Had other links open looking for more info on this story.

From an article published back in 2000:

"There were no criminal charges against Michael's father since laws that could have held him liable were not yet in place at the time of the shooting."

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Lives-Changed-by-Boy-s-Tragic-Shooting-Growing-2759827.php

From an article published in 2004:

"Elliot Peters, an attorney for the Dix family, said Beretta had failed to incorporate adequate safety features in the 9mm semiautomatic handgun that killed the boy. According to Peters, the gun's loaded-chamber indicator, a red dot on the barrel that rises 1 millimeter when a round is chambered, was too subtle for unintended users such as Michael."

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/OAKLAND-Maker-of-pistol-cleared-in-death-of-2703362.php

[Straw Man]

14. OK, now I see why he lost the suit.

"Elliot Peters, an attorney for the Dix family, said Beretta had failed to incorporate adequate safety features in the 9mm semiautomatic handgun that killed the boy. According to Peters, the gun's loaded-chamber indicator, a red dot on the barrel that rises 1 millimeter when a round is chambered, was too subtle for unintended users such as Michael."

Maybe klaxons and a warning flare would have done it.