One of the claims made my manufacturer Steve Gass is a proposal claim.  Gass proposes that saws without Saw Stop technology result in thousands of injuries every year which is the main reason to buy his type of saws.  This is one his most compelling arguments because it sufficiently proves how dangerous unmodified table saws are.

The claim made by nearly all of Saw Stop’s satisfied customers is an evaluation.  Customers of this product have determined the risks of normal table saws to be too high and have chosen to pay a little more for the security of a saw made by Gass.  This is also a strong claim because certainly a victim from a table saw accident would have rather paid more in the beginning to avoid the injury.

The table saw industry’s spokespeople have turned down the offer to purchase rights to Saw Stop technology from Steve Gass.  Thus far none of the companies that Gass has approached have accepted the offer using a consequential claim.  Their collective claim is that the enormous initial cost associated with converting all their current equipment would force them to raise the prices on their saws, losing them customers and therefore losing them a substantial amount of money.  The majority of table saw users simply do not view this technology as being worth the extra cost.  This is a compelling claim as well because of the huge amount of resources that a tool company would need to allocate in order to convert all their saws to utilize this technology.  From the viewpoint of an executive at one of these companies and knowing that most of the customers will not pay more for the added safety it is clear why the spokespeople have turned down the offer to purchase the Stop Saw system.

Consumer safety advocates rely on a resemblance claim of sorts.  Many advocates of this system claim that this is the newest advance in technology in this field and it makes sense to put the newest technology into use when it comes to safety.  Just as seatbelts and airbags were installed in all cars as they became available and just as more advanced blade guards and safer blades were installed on table saws as it became aware that these upgrades could better protect users.  Saw Stop is the newest advance in the field of tool safety which would potentially save thousands of people from injury and many claim that for this reason it should be implemented.  This argument is not as compelling as the others because customers should have the option to buy this from Gass as opposed to forcing all companies to install this system and requiring a higher payment from the customers.  Especially for those who only use their saws on occasion and have a very low risk of injury.

Injured plaintiffs and their personal injury lawyers have similar claims which are evaluation claims.  Both parties argue that manufacturers should use the Saw Stop system because the system is well worth the extra effort and money.  Lawyers claim that it is unfair to customers that a debilitating injury could have been one hundred per cent avoided using the system.  Again this claim is not as compelling because although it is tragic that they were harmed, often by no fault of their own, the Saw Stop technology has been around for ten years and is fairly well known.  If the customers were concerned with safety then they should have purchased one from Gass.

Government officials also lean towards the claims of the personal injury lawyers in that a preventable injury should be prevented even if it means having to pay a little extra.  This is another evaluation claim.  To me this argument is not compelling because in America no one should be forced to alter their products, especially if there are products that meet the specifications that the officials want them to.  In my opinion I would be more in favor of a government mandate on the saws if the government were to pay a percentage of the cost to upgrade them to the new system.

News reporters use a variety of claims in order to give the audience a more complete view of the subject.  But most often they focus on the proposal claim that Gass also uses because it has the most shock and awe power to it which draws in the audience.  Certainly hearing about 40,000 preventable injuries is shocking news to even those who knew of the dangers of such power tools.  This is a compelling argument because statistics like this really show how needed a product like Saw Stop is.