This wasn’t on my recent blogging to-do list, but it hit my radar and I had to vent a little. I just got a case involving an armed security guard who was shot in the face by somebody robbing the bank she was hired to secure. Know what she did? She sued the bank. Sued the bank for premises liability. That’s right. The bank she was hired to secure is now on the hook for failing to provide a secure work environment.

I’m a lawyer. I enjoy creative lawsuits as much as anybody. But this sh*t is beyond the pale. I’ve talked about overplaying the race card, and I’ve talked about police overplaying the “I have a right to do whatever it takes to avoid getting even so much as a paper cut on this job” card. Well, this is overplaying the liability card. When will people learn that we can’t just up and sue people every time we get our feelings hurt? I mean, don’t get me wrong, a bullet to the face sucks in a major way. But isn’t that kinda what you sign up for when you apply for a job securing banks from armed robbers?

As I mentioned in Episode 153 of the GunBlog VarietyCast (right around the 39-minute mark), I think people need to put more deliberation into their career choices and accept responsibility for them. I could never be a cop or a security guard, and I wouldn’t subject the public to my confessed inadequacies when it comes to those kinds of jobs. Kudos to all those awesome people who were born for those gigs and do them honorably. But if it’s not your thing, then you have two options:

(1) Get trained and MAKE it your thing, or
(2) Do something else.

Notice what’s NOT on the list of options? Taking a job that obviously, inherently, predictably, unavoidably involves XYZ, and then complaining about having to deal with XYZ on the job. That ain’t a good look. At all. Queasy at the sight of blood? Don’t be a surgeon. Hate toddlers? Don’t be a kindergarten teacher. Fuzzy with numbers? Don’t be an accountant. Not really a people person? Don’t go into customer service. Looking for a career with no whizzing bullets? Guess what. Armed security probably ain’t for you. If you didn’t recognize that before accepting the job, please don’t blame the folks who depended on you to understand these things.

To be clear, I am not faulting this poor lady for being shot. I don’t know the circumstances of the shooting other than a robber shot her while she was on security duty. All I’m saying here is the bank didn’t shoot her, and I don’t understand why she’s suing the bank for not keeping the place safe (Wasn’t that her job?).

This is a thousand times more important for gun people, IMHO. If you count yourself as a gun person, that’s a high-stakes game to play. Please do the work, know the potential consequences, and go into it with your eyes wide open. And when stuff hits the fan, please don’t blame other people.

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