Mercury Metals employs 350 people and is the largest employer in the county. The employee’s pension plan at Mercury Metals is dependent on the stock of the company. The general public also owns stock in the company.

The Peace Keeper has given the struggling company success by enabling it to reach the highest profit level in three decades. As a result of this, wages and salaries have increased for employees, generous management bonuses have been paid, and common stock dividends are at an all time high. Management feels this is due to the market success of the Peace Keeper.

The Peace Keeper has a short barrel, is light weight, is easy to conceal, and sells at a low cost. The gun is not accurate enough for hunting, fishing, police, or military use. In addition the Peace Keeper has been used for criminal activity resulting in human death. This gave Mercury Metals negative press.

Step 2: What are the ethical issues?

There are a couple of ethical issues that arise from the case. The first is should a company sell a gun that lends itself to criminal use? The Peace Keeper’s low price and easy consealabilty make the product a great fit for criminal activity.

Based on the Utilitarian perspective it appears that continuing to sell the Peace Keeper as-is is the best solution. The Utilitarian perspective promotes the greatest good for the greatest number. This option clearly is the favorable option to all parties involved with the exception of the general public.

• Discontinue selling guns and move to another product line

Changing the design of the Peace Keeper is the action that should be followed. This will benefit all parties involved and is the ethical thing to so in this situation. The implementation plan that needs to be put into place is as follows:

Step 5: What are the ethics of the alternatives?

The second practical constraint is that something needs to change to alleviate Mercury Metals from the bad press they are getting from the Peace Maker. If they do not make any changes there may be boycotts of their products or they may no longer be able to get proper insurance to cover them from liability in lawsuits.

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