~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Fri, 19 Jul 1996, Ernest Hua wrote:
I suspect you might be baiting ... but ...
If you can trust a six-year-old with an Uzi, I assume that you believe the six-year-old can "properly" judge what is a threat and what isn't? Just why do you suppose a pissed-off six-year-old (because, let's say, another six-year-old stole his lunch) would not blast someone?
Works for me. Throughout most of the history of the US, children have routinely been intrusted with deadly weapons--rifles, pistols and shotguns. I got my first real gun when I was seven or eight. (Before that, I had a BB gun as long as I can remember.) I gave my daugher one when she was nine or ten. I know of one FOUR YEAR OLD whose parents gave her a gun. (I have no doubt she would use it far more judiciously than your average cop.) For two hundred years Americans have been able to buy small guns made especially for children. I've seen them and they were beautiful little guns. Nowadays, the gun manufacturers has eschewed them--probably for PR reasons.
Would you just hand out guns to all teenagers?
Hell no! Let them or their parents buy them.
You might have had a different childhood, but when I (and most of my friends) were 6 (or 12 or even 18), our primary concern was having fun,
Ditto, bro. And guns are great fun. That's why Thomas Jefferson opined that giving a young man a gun would do far more to build his character then engaging in sports. (I agree.) Next time you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, let me know and I'll take you shooting. Looks like you need some character building. :-)
This means that a group of 1000 KKK members will kill a group of 10 blacks due to overwhelming force.
Again, history shows you to be wrong. Gun control started in the antibellum South as a means to disarm the newly freed blacks. When the Black Muslims bought a Southern plantation in the '60s they were harassed--until they armed themselves with AR-15s. After that, no more problems. Finally, I know a lawyer who was a Freedom Rider in the '60s. Whenever they were confronted with threats of force, they shot back. Presto, off into the woods shrank the cowardly Klansmen. Other--unarmed--civil rights workers ended up being encorporated into dams and land fills.
One principle in the Constitution (which I personally respect very much) is that a majority should not force its views on a minority.
Me too. That's what we gun owners are fighting to preserve.
Incidentally, if you are interested, I DO have a child (almost 2 yrs), and I certainly would not even contemplate letting him have a gun (no matter how well he can use it) until he can legal get one himself. I will certainly invoke serious wrath (on him and anyone else involved) if I ever found him with a gun.
Unfortunately, the first you might know of it is when he comes across a gun and ends up shooting himself or someone else because of the gun ignorance to which you have condemned him. Good luck. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~