Standard Mischief

Say Uncle is upset with Pizza Hut for their firing of a delivery driver who defended himself with his lawfully carried firearm. There are a few “hell yea, me too” messages in the comments, and a mention in the VCDL blog too. Some people have even threated to boycott the company in response. While I certainly have to admire commitment to only patronize businesses that support all of our civil rights, I think that there’s a few points being missed.

• Pizza hut gave the former driver two months severance pay and was offered help finding a new job by the company

Really. For a pizza delivery job. To me that says “We really don’t want to fire you, but our lawyers are making us”.

• Every single pizza chain delivery store has the same policy. So do most convenience stores and many other retailers.

The reason most retailers have these workplace rules is strictly economics. In this example, Pizza Hut with the deep pockets does not want to be successfully sued by the wounded would-be robber, or in a (theoretical) different case, the dead bad guy’s family. So they have a corporate policy against weapons, and they enforce it when they have to.

I don’t usually like to say “tort reform”, because that’s usually just lawyer-speak for “reform” regarding who get socked with writing a big check, rather than meaningful reform of our legal system. I do think something needs to be changed.

So since the NRA is so much better at shielding the corporate limited liability thingys from frivolous lawsuits solely aimed to drive manufactures out of business - such as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, something I wholeheartedly agree with - than actually, you know, restoring rights to individual citizens, perhaps we could push for some reform this way.

Something like if limited liability companies do not have policies that limit individuals from lawfully carrying firearms for the defense of their own life, then they are automatically shielded from any lawsuits arising from the personal defensive use of those firearms by their employees.

Oh, and while I think Pizza Hut pizza by and large is subpar and too greasy, I think their “hand-tossed” style is pretty good in a corporate consistent mediocre way. The main problem with all the chains and most of the independent shops is that they use the cheapest mozzarella available, and that cheese simply doesn’t taste at good as the good stuff.