Lawsuit vigilantism

To the Editor:

We got both California and Texas offering citizens the ability to be lawsuit vigilantes. Here, we can now sue our fellow citizens if we believe they have illegal firearms. In the Lone Star state, people can bring to court someone suspected of having — or aiding and abetting — an abortion (not sure if this includes conspiracy to distribute fancy-colored condoms).

In this era of “drive-by” lawsuit extortion, these policies won't possibly pour gas on the fire will they? I guess the backlogs in our courts have all been cleared up now so we can instigate a whole new avalanche of time and money consuming litigation that offers few if any positive results. I'd love to believe there aren't legions out there that will engage in such for some personal grandeur, or to further their personal feud with somebody, but I think most of us know much better.

It seems chiseled in stone that any worthwhile legislation takes years and years and years, if ever, to accomplish while shoot-fromthe-hip idiocy like the above bolts off the assembly line faster than an army division of Lucy Balls can possibly deal with.

Michael Harami

Columbia