Who Killed Kenzo? The Loss of a Son and the Ongoing Battle for Gun Safety

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.

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.

Accident: The Loss a Son, a Fight Against Beretta, and the Ongoing Battle for Gun Safety By Griffin Dix © Griffin Dix Part I. Kenzo 1. How Could This Happen? … … … … 3 2. After 15 3. The Reluctant Club 21 4. The Public Safety Committee 33 Part II. Legal Groundwork 5. Our Lawyer, The Judge, The Rules We Will Not Settle 48 The Media 56 The Trial Begins 58 What to Hide from the Jurors 64 Jury Selection 80 Part III. The Trial 7. Opening Statements 89 8. What Happened and Why Did It Happen? Emotional Testimony 100 The Boy Who Shot Kenzo 109 The Adolescent Psychiatrist 118 The Injury Prevention Expert 124 The Beretta USA Executive… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .131 9. The Gun’ s Design, The Gun’ s Owner The Systems Safety Engineer 136 The Gun Owner 145 Plaintiffs’ Gun Design Expert 155 Beretta’ s Gun Design Expert Witness 165 10. Personal Testimony: Kenzo’ s Ten-Year Plan… … … … … … … … … … .177 11. Closing Arguments Plaintiffs: Corporate Responsibility 188 Defendant: Personal Responsibility 198 Rebuttal 204 12. The Verdict… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 210 Part IV. The Tribulations 13. Heartache… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...221 14. New Hope Reversible Error 231 Organizing Against Gun Industry Legal Immunity 232 15. Try, Try Again Bulldog 237 The Gun Handling Expert 246 The Gun Industry’ s Top Hired Gun 249 One or Two More Votes 254 Immunity II 268 Trial, Trial Again 272 16. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act … … … .278 17. Who Killed Kenzo? … … … .284 Part V. The Long Game 18. Safety Standards Junk Guns 291 Courageous Leadership 294 19. Progress “ Associate with People Whom You Enjoy” 297 Whiz Bang Technology 298 The Regulations 300 At Last, Change 303 Did the Handgun Safety Standards Laws Save Lives? 304 20. Meditations… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .. 307