Brazil-based handgun maker Forjas Taurus SA has agreed to a $39 million settlement in a class action lawsuit alleging some of the company’s most popular semi-automatic handguns can discharge when dropped and have a defective safety that allows the gun to fire even when it’s engaged.According to court documents filed May 15 in a U.S. District Court in Florida, the company has agreed to pay up to $30 million to owners of nine separate handgun models who opt to send their pistols back, with owners receiving anywhere from $150 to $200 for their pistols depending on how many choose that option.

Source: Taurus Agrees To $39 Million Settlement In Defective Pistol Case | Hunting, Fishing and Shooting News on Grand View Outdoors

I would risk and say that this settlement took a nice bite out of the already collapsing Taurus Profit/Loss ledger. And unfortunately, they deserve it because they keep ignoring they are not selling to a captive market but one that has choices and it is rather picky.

The pisser is that there is a great brain trust within Taurus. Yes they come up with some weird stuff, but thinking outside the box is always something good in a competitive market. But no matter how imaginative your design team can be if you have the proverbial drunken monkeys making the parts and assembling them.

At any American company, this much money going out would cause the dismissal of some people in management and a boatload at the line production. However, I don’t see this happening it in Brazil where the socialists unions would raise hell and paralyze all the manufacturing activities (They also have a tool & die plant plus construction.)

They good news is they are not yet Colt in economic terms, the bad news is that they are now below Hi-Point and Jimenez in reliability and craftsmanship.

CITRUS COUNTY, FL (WFTS/CNN) – A man was charged in a road rage altercation that turned deadly last week.It was all captured in two horrifying 911 calls. The two men yelled. One man started shooting, and the family of the other screamed as they watched.Citrus County deputies say Robert Doyle shot and killed Candelario Gonzalez on Thursday. Deputies say it all started with a road rage incident.Doyle was in a car with his wife, and Gonzalez was in a landscaping truck with his wife, daughter and grandson. Both families called 911.

Source: Police: Road rage leads man to kill other man in front of family –

We are way early on the full disclosure of evidence here and we are getting whatever information is available through the never-to-be-trusted-100-% media.

What we know so far is that two drivers were engaged in road rage. The incident happened at 10 PM. Both vehicles called 911. Both had loved ones in the vehicles. Doyle chose to go home, Gonzalez followed even though 911 dispatcher told him not to. (Yup, back on that one again.) Doyle got out of his vehicle, so did Gonzalez. Shots ensued and Gonzalez died at the scene. Doyle gets arrested on second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

I checked several sources and most are repeating the same thing and quoting the same bits from the 911 call except the Daily Mail.

Gonzalez’s wife told police that Doyle was driving aggressively and her husband followed him in his own car to Doyle’s home in order to get an address to report to law enforcement officers.

Both parties called 911 to report each other before the shooting occurred. ‘Some maniac… is trying to run me off the road,’ Doyle said in the call, according to WFLA. ‘My gun’s already out, its cocked and locked.’ Gonzalez’s wife was also on the phone with emergency operators, asking for help while driving behind Doyle, who had a trailer in tow.  ‘He’s just driving like an idiot,’ she told the operator. ‘Somebody needs to smack the crap out of this idiot.’

The wives of the men can be heard trying to diffuse the situation in both phone calls before the shooting occurred.

Source: Florida road rage driver Robert Doyle shoots dead man before his victim’s family gunpoint | Daily Mail Online

And WFTS reports the following.

Deputies say both Doyle and Cande have a history of reckless driving.  Doyle was charged in 2001 after deputies say he hit a motorcycle. Cande was charged In January 2014 for a road incident involving a Citrus County deputy.

Source: 911 tapes reveal escalation in Citrus shooting – Story | abcactionnews.com | Tampa Bay News, Weather, Sports, Things To Do | WFTS-TV

And to end it for today:

Doyle was released on a $60,000 bond, according to CNN.

Source: Police: Road rage leads man to kill other man in front of family – WNEM TV 5

That is a really low bond for Second Degree Murder and aggravated assault charges IMHO.

Let’s wait and see what evidence comes out.  Either way, this case will be very interesting to follow.

When not even trick photography can hide the pathetic. I have seen bigger crowds at hot dog stands.

No, they did so people could use them guns for “sporting purposes” because Washington fought a war of independence against dangerous deer wearing redcoats supported by turkeys with German accent.

I wish I could say that I went with a clearly defined strategy for this argument and it was finely executed. It was not like that at all. I give her all the props to her: She called attention to the low-hanging fruit, put neon around and handed me the bat.

I did go in with a plan. Nothing legally complicated because people who run on slogans and memes have serious problems comprehend basic Civil Rights and moderately advanced legal terminology. I wanted to explain that when Background Checks provide a false positive and deny the sale to a law-abiding citizen, it is clearly unconstitutional and should not stand for one second. Imagine if you went to vote and you were subject to a BG check before doing so but got falsely denied. Hell, these people are shitting bricks a the idea of simply proving you are an American Citizen in order to register to vote!

So, when I saw her comment about registration, I could not help but smile.

All the “We really, really don’t want to take your guns away” and “We just want to make sure guns do not end with the hands of wrong people” excuses go out the window: For the love of God, there are almost 13 million  background-checked, fingerprinted and photographed US Gov Certified frigging card-carrying Good Guys and she recoils at the idea that we should be exempted of any more background checks.

And it is a lovely thing when the are caught in a web of their own making. And I pray they remains that stupid because they become evidence we need to say “See? We weren’t bullshitting you. That is the way they think.” They are a great help to our cause.

So Andrea, this is for you:

PS: I am gonna leave Andrea alone for a while. I don’t want to be accused of being abusive by imposing by White Hispanic Privilege or some crud like that.

But don’t grab a weapon, not even pepper spray! “They all sound like a good idea, but again, we don’t know how the burglar will react to seeing an armed person.” No, but we can probably predict how he will react to the impact of 1.25 ounces of 00 buck

Source: Of Arms and the Law: Home invasion: some useless advice

And that wins the interwebs for today.