In my prior life in the medical manufacturing industry, two-thirds of which was spent as an independent consultant, I was known as an expert in Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA). CAPA is a defined method for solving problems; the steps in the process are, broadly speaking, identifying the problem, defining the scope of the problem, conducting root cause analysis, developing corrections, corrective actions, and preventive actions, and then validating that the actions have resolved the root cause.
In twenty-plus years of teaching CAPA to some pretty high-powered organizations, one ironclad rule of root cause analysis has always applied: The tool is never the cause. But many companies fell into this trap — and in the political world, gun-control advocates have done likewise. And so has the government of Mexico, in filing a lawsuit seeking to blame American gun companies for…
