Two students run onto a high school campus, plant explosives, and then open fire. Twelve students and one teacher die, and many others are wounded. Following the massacre, the two young men commit suicide.

Now, six months after the Columbine shootings, the parents of those two young men are suing the sheriff's office. Other parents with dead or wounded children have filed 18 suits or intents to sue.

I can empathize, but where do they get the right to profit from the tragedy? Are the parents of these two gun-toting young men really victims?

The parents of shooter Dylan Klebold claim that if the sheriff's department had only informed them that their angel of a son was hanging around people who "had made threats and maintained a hate web site," they would have made sure that Dylan would have stayed away from his friend. Uh huh.

But the parents of the shooters are not the only ones filing suit. The parents who had unarmed children killed or traumatized in the shooting are going after the Jefferson County School District, the sheriff's office and gun manufacturers. Parents have also filed lawsuits against Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris' parents.

In essence, society tells us that all we really need to do in life is not work but get one good lawsuit and be set for a life of luxury.

Do we think that the more laws we pass, the more precedents we set in the courtroom and the more regulations we demand our government use to watch over us, the happier we will be? No, it will just give us more opportunity to sue any failing. We are setting ourselves up for a fall. In our pursuit of selfish gain, we are losing our liberty and judicial system.

If the gun is responsible for the owner shooting someone, then the manufacturer is responsible. If the school is responsible for every violent action a student takes, the school is liable. If the sheriff fails to tell everyone's misdeeds to any and every person related to an incident, he is responsible. But I don't think these parties carry those responsibilities. Let us not make the gun manufacturer responsible for every bullet shot from a gun. A car manufacturer is only responsible for those killed due to the car's failure to respond to the owner. Do we want to change that next? Would we have cars much longer?

The basis for lawsuits today is a mockery of law and an abomination of justice. We are taking postmodern perspectives and abusing the legal system by saying the law is just what I interpret it to be.

This thinking is an infringement of what the law is. If you are wronged, that is a betrayal of trust. Cash won't salve your wounds. Before you think about taking a legal action, ask this question: "What right am I entitled to that I feel has been violated?"

Twelve students lie dead. The young men who shot them are dead. What good will a lawsuit do now?