After Griffin Dix's 15-year-old son, Kenzo, is killed in a gun ""accident"" by a close friend, Griffin learns that the gun lacked safety features that could have prevented his son's death. A brilliant Brady Center lawyer helps him and his wife sue Beretta USA, leading to courtroom battles between a major gun violence prevention organization and leaders of the gun industry, who argue over the causes of Kenzo's death. This gripping account exposes how the gun industry markets guns designed for the military and police to untrained civilians, too often with tragic results. But the book is not just another ""gun control"" diatribe. It gives full voice to both sides of a fascinating American debate that has implications for the safety of American families.
Griffin's deeply personal narrative ends with hope. It tells how he joins a California coalition to pass state laws to reduce unsafe gun storage and to establish handgun safety standards that force the gun industry to sell safer handguns. These laws help dramatically reduce unintentional gun deaths in California and the rest of the country when the safer handguns are sold nationwide.
By:
Griffin Dix
Imprint: Woodhall Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 228mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781954907621
ISBN 10: 1954907621
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 11 January 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Accident:The Loss a Son, a Fight Against Beretta, and the Ongoing Battle for Gun SafetyBy Griffin Dix© Griffin DixPart I. Kenzo 1. How Could This Happen? … … … … 32. After 153. The Reluctant Club 214. The Public Safety Committee 33Part II. Legal Groundwork 5. Our Lawyer, The Judge, The RulesWe Will Not Settle 48The Media 56The Trial Begins 58What to Hide from the Jurors 64Jury Selection 80Part III. The Trial7. Opening Statements 89 8. What Happened and Why Did It Happen?Emotional Testimony 100The Boy Who Shot Kenzo 109The Adolescent Psychiatrist 118The Injury Prevention Expert 124The Beretta USA Executive… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .131 9. The Gun’ s Design, The Gun’ s OwnerThe Systems Safety Engineer 136The Gun Owner 145Plaintiffs’ Gun Design Expert 155Beretta’ s Gun Design Expert Witness 165 10. Personal Testimony: Kenzo’ s Ten-Year Plan… … … … … … … … … … .177 11. Closing ArgumentsPlaintiffs: Corporate Responsibility 188Defendant: Personal Responsibility 198Rebuttal 204 12. The Verdict… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 210Part IV. The Tribulations 13. Heartache… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...221 14. New HopeReversible Error 231Organizing Against Gun Industry Legal Immunity 232 15. Try, Try AgainBulldog 237The Gun Handling Expert 246The Gun Industry’ s Top Hired Gun 249One or Two More Votes 254Immunity II 268Trial, Trial Again 272 16. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act … … … .278 17. Who Killed Kenzo? … … … .284Part V. The Long Game 18. Safety StandardsJunk Guns 291Courageous Leadership 294 19. Progress“ Associate with People Whom You Enjoy” 297Whiz Bang Technology 298The Regulations 300At Last, Change 303Did the Handgun Safety Standards Laws Save Lives? 304 20. Meditations… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .. 307
Griffin Dix has a Ph.D in cultural anthropology from the University of California, San Diego, and is a former college professor at Santa Clara University. He is a nationally known activist and has received many awards for his work in gun violence prevention. He has led the Oakland, California Brady chapter for many years and was elected nationally by the chapters to represent them on the Brady Board. In recent years his op-eds have been published in more than twenty newspapers and media with over 54 million total impressions. See: https://griffindix.com/. He lives in Kensington, California.
Reviews for Who Killed Kenzo?: The Loss of a Son and the Ongoing Battle for Gun Safety
""Who Killed Kenzo? tells a nitty-gritty tale about the fight against gun violence... every victory is hard-won and incomplete. Progress is incremental... every year, there are more family members of firearms victims looking to help curb the nation's gun carnage."" --Bill Lueders, Editor-at-large of The Progressive Magazine
