wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (01/03/85)
In his last article, Greg Kuperberg states that he wants his law to come from "three men" or nine or twelve. Sorry Greg, but our laws do not come from that few. I assume you are talking about our court system when you say this. Well, to just set things in order, our laws come from our elected legislative representatives, not the courts. The courts only interpret the laws (and thus, sometimes, rejuggle the law's meaning). As an aside, is everyone enjoying the annual handgun debate? This topic and abortion seem to generate enough missinformation and bull belch to choke a horse. Keep it up folks, there are only 10 more days left before the topic dies of sheer boredom.|-) T. C. Wheeler
darrelj@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Darrel VanBuer) (01/09/85)
The problem that so many of us have with handguns vs other things that kill
people is the relative utility and efficiency of the devices.
True, more people are killed by autos than handguns, but 99% of the time,
those cars are doing useful things like taking people to work and play.
The best that can be said for 99% of handguns is they're locked away.
True, every month the NRA reports a handful of cases in which someone with
a handgun defended themselves. In the same month close to a thousand are
shot by some mixture of criminals, friends, relatives (and rarely, a nut).
True, there are lots of ways to kill people, but none of the other ways
have the same combination of speed, action at a distance and easy
concealment of a handgun. It's pretty hard to hold up a bank with a knife
or blunt instrument, or kill someone who's decided to run away with one of
those. Long guns are hard to conceal, or keep at bedside or whatever.
Police go through a lot of training (many do anyway) to learn to make that
split second decision on use of their handgun (is that a little old lady
about to blow me away or a punk rocker seeking directions), and even then
it's less than perfect. Most civilian training is in areas of basic safety
and accurate firing
As for the right to keep and bear arms: this is the right to organize
militia in defense of the country. I would hardly want to face a squad of
invading Russians with automatic rifles with a Saturday night special. Give
me a long gun for that.
--
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,orstcs,sdcsvax,ucla-cs,akgua}
!sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPAbellas@ttidcb.UUCP (Quicks' Draw) (07/11/85)
I live in a very rural area, only 5 neighbors within a one mile radius. We recently had an incident where a nearby prison announced that 7 inmates had escaped. A later report noted that one of the inmates had been caught in the canyon that I live. This obviously caused my wife and I a bit of concern. For the next week, until all the inmates were recaptured, I carried my .357 with me. To work, to the store, when I was out working around the place, at all times. There was no way I could have carried my shotgun or rifle and still gone about a normal life (there is no way the police could protect you in this situation). I often carry my handgun when out trailriding to dispatch rattlesnakes where again a long gun would be impractical. Think before you label handguns as only used for crime, there are many legitimate uses. -Pete- ps. I also use mine for hunting, which is legal in California.
csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) (07/12/85)
In article <406@ttidcb.UUCP> bellas@ttidcb.UUCP (Quicks' Draw) writes: >gone about a normal life (there is no way the police could protect >you in this situation). I often carry my handgun when out trailriding >to dispatch rattlesnakes where again a long gun would be impractical. >Think before you label handguns as only used for crime, there are >many legitimate uses. > > -Pete- I'm sure that in a gun-control situation, the authorities would be happy to license your use. As for handguns used for crime... there are no rattlesnakes in Cambridge Massachusetts and lots of police. If somebody is carrying a .357, they are more than likely up to no good. -- Charles Forsythe CSDF@MIT-VAX "The Church of Fred has yet to come under attack. No one knows about it." -Rev. Wang Zeep