Should publishing companies be held accountable for their content?

In Sept 1995 Lawrence Horn was trailed for triple murder. He had hired a hit man named James Perry to kill his ex-wife, his quadriplegic daughter and the nanny.

When James Perry’s home was searched a book titled “Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors” was discovered.

This book is a product of a publishing company located in CO called Paladin Press. Paladin Press has over 50 murder related titles. A few are: How to make disposable silencers, How to strangle someone properly, A Guide to Changing Your Identity, How to Dispose of Dead Bodies, Acts of Terrorism: A How to Guide, etc.

Hit Man actually came to fame when it was found in the home of known Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVey. It was later used by to criminals to commit what has been called one of the top “crimes of the century”, but we’ll get into that later.

So when this book was discovered at James Perry’s home it was a big deal. The media went crazy, airing parts of this book which are actually rather disturbing.

Chapter one of Hit Man is Called “Beginning Mental & Physical Preparation” another chapter is called “Making a Reluctant Victim Talk”
The book explains the proper way to shoot someone. “Always stand between 3 – 6 feet away from the victim. Be sure to shoot them in the eye. This will eliminate unnecessary blood spatter.”
AR-7 are a perfect gun when it comes to killing someone. They are light weight and easy to disassemble.
Use a drill with a standard drill bit to obscure the guns serial numbers before committing a crime.
Rat tail files are a perfect way to quietly pry open locked French doors.

And so on. It’s very graphic in detail.
Well the kin of the victims filed a law suite against Paladin Press, holding them responsible for publishing a “manuscript for murder”.
The Defense’s main argument was Freedom of Speech. It is unconstitutional to make the book company pay the victims family. The Defense sited that authors like Fredrick Forsyth and Tom Clancy also produce publications that have story lines in which people get fake identifications, comit murder, run from the law and more.
Also, they reminded the judge of a similar case that took place in the late 60’s.
The year was 1969 to be exact. Ohio was fighting the KKK for a member making a speech saying that all African American needed to be murdered. This case had eventually reached the supreme court where it was ruled in favor of the KKK. Since no black people had bee “immediately killed”, there was nothing they could do.

The Prosecution completely disagreed. One of the lawyers summed it up by saying, “If I publish a cook book called ‘How to Bake a Chocolate Cake’, I would expect you to buy my book if you plan to bake a chocolate cake. If I write a book called “Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors”, I would EXPECT you to murder someone.”

One section of this book that particularly angered mothers was called “How to make a BABY BOTTLE BOMB”. This is a bomb used to kill innocent children for insurance money.

Another interesting point is the “Pull out checklists” that this publication offers. These check lists are very detailed, including possible cleaning supplies, lock picking gadgets and more.


Regardless of all the efforts, the district court ruled in favor of Paladin Press.
An appeal was made and the case went to Supreme Court.

May 1999. Weeks before the Paladin Press trial was to begin, one of the centuries worst crimes took place. Two students in Columbine open fire on teachers and classmates. When their homes were searched, guess what turned up…PALADIN PRESS.

This worried the owner of the book company so he quietly agreed to settle out of court with the victims families for 2.2 million PLUS he agreed to stop selling the publication Hit Man.

So I ask you; Should Publishers be held responsible for their content?

MY OPINION: Yes. Publishers SHOULD be held responsible for their content. If you want to see this book for free & read it go here: http://ftp.die.net/mirror/hitman/ . It is clearly an instrument of the devil if placed in the wrong hands.
If you don’t plan to go to the web site, at least read what was posted on it about this particular case:

“In 1993, a triple murder was committed in Montgomery County by a man who was alleged to have used this book, Hit Man, as his guide. He was caught and convicted and sentenced to death. Wanting to profit from their loved one's murder, and realizing that the murderer himself was too poor to be worth suing, the family of those killed by the hit man sued Paladin Press, the publisher of the book Hit Man, saying Paladin Press "aided and abetted" the murder.
May 21, 1999, Paladin Press settled the case, giving the families of those killed by the hit man several million dollars, agreeing to destroy the remaining 700 copies of the book in their possession, and surrendering any rights they have to publish and reproduce the work. While the families were successful in profiting from their loved one's death, they have not been successful in stifling the book. With the surrender of the publishing rights by Paladin Press, the book has entered the public domain, and was published on the Internet at Overthrow.com in its entirety on May 22, 1999.
The book was initially published in 1983. 13,000 copies of the book are now in existence. There has only ever been one case where the book was associated with a crime, in that case the criminal had recently finished a lengthy prison sentence and had a history of prior violent crime. It is our opinion this book has never incited a murder, that the settlement of the Paladin Press case was wrong and forced by the insurance company, and that this book, and no book, should be banned. We invite the public to judge for themselves.
That said, here is Hit Man ...”