Julia Thompson wrote:
>
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > In the case of firearms, though, we aren't talking about likelihood to
> > kill, but rather the likelihood they will be used to kill someone, or
> > several someones.
> >
> > Judged strictly on likelihood to kill, my bookcase can kill someone if
> > it falls on him. But until I hear about a mass bookcase slaying, I
> > don't think stricter controls on it as a potential weapon are
> > warranted.
>
> As someone who had a close call due to a falling bookcase, I don't
> appreciate your analogy as much as some folks might. :P
>
> I agree that the incidents are a lot more isolated and much rarer than
> firearm deaths.
>
> I would recommend that if any controls were to be put on bookcases,
> bolting them to the wall would be a reasonable solution, certainly at
> least as reasonable as trigger locks on guns. (That doesn't help with the
> bookcase in here that isn't against a wall, but that one is a lot more
> stabler than the one that fell over and dumped its contents on my arms,
> head & body as I was bracing it to keep it from going all the way over on
> me and crushing me. And no, I'm not sure I'm entirely over it, even
> though it was a good 14 years ago.)
I don't know what the requirements are in other parts of the country, but here
in earthquake prone Ca. we are required by cal-osha* to have all shelves,
cabinets what have you, over 4 feet high (1.3 m?), tied down securely and
nothing is allowed to be stored loosely on any high surfaces. Some of this
makes sense, some of it is a bit silly (who's going to be hurt by falling foam
stored on top of a cabinet.) But obviously this is another case where
regulations are used due to the possibility that injury or death may occur.
Doug
*California Occupational Safety and Health Administration
