Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper
I would draw the line with regards to liability insurance. You are required to have liability insurance on your car in the event YOU are involved in an accident. Not if someone ELSE steals your car and misuses it. Very few people here would agree that what we need in the country is more litigation. Should you be civilly liable if I steal your knife, axe, chainsaw, mower, etc? Why are guns any different? It doesn't matter how well you secure your weapons, if I was determined to get them, I could. Should you then lose your home and life savings as a consequence?
TR
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Should I be civilly liable if someone steals anything of mine and uses it to cause any injury or damage? Absolutely not! Assuming I took reasonable precautions to prevent the theft. In the example of a car -- I think not leaving the keys in the vehicle and locking the doors and windows reasonably meets that criteria. We take greater care of our cars, perhaps because of the cost and value but we should be concerned about the possible misuse and damage if we fail to take basic common sense measures to secure them against theft.
Regarding less dangerous things your example of the knife, axe, chainsaw, mower i think a reasonable jury would find that if they were secured in a locked garage one would be reasonably exempt from liability. I don't think guns should be any different. If they are stolen but you have them secured with a lock you have acted in a reasonable and prudent manner to prevent misuse. I think it would be reasonable to assume the lock works. If the crazy steals the locked weapon and defeats the lock it would be wrong to hold a law-abiding gun-owner liable.
I agree that we don't want more litigation. A properly worded law would provide clear guidance . . . was the gun stolen? Was the gun locked when it was stolen? Answer yes to both, no liability.