Teenager Collecting Donations To Buy, Then MELT DOWN Guns To Save Lives

[matcom]

<snip>

Brandon Maxfield was left paralyzed a decade ago after a pistol accidentally went off. Last year, an Alameda County jury awarded him nearly $51 million.

The gunmaker, Bryco Arms, filed for bankruptcy days after the verdict, a move that Brandon believes was intended to avoid paying damages and re-emerge under a new name to continue making "junk" guns such as the one that left him a quadriplegic.

Now Brandon, who is 17 and lives in Mendocino County, has initiated an unusual task: He is collecting donations to buy the Orange County company's equipment -- and 60,000 unassembled guns -- in hopes of melting down the parts to save lives.

"Brandon's family does not want these guns put on the market, even though selling them would bring them some money that would benefit Brandon," the boy's attorney, Richard Ruggieri of San Rafael, said Tuesday.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/09/BAG3M735SV1.DTL

[MrBenchley]

1. Good for him!!

[sybylla]

2. Noble, but not likely to be effective

Buying them out will only give them capital to start over. Tight-@$$ conservatives in my former home town thought they could get rid of a strip club if they bought out the owner. All he did was take the fresh capital from unloading his cramped, old building and buy a better, bigger and newer building down the street. He's had an even more successful business since, thanks to the the influx of cash and free advertising.