William H. Geiger III <whgiii@invweb.net> wrote on 1 Oct 97: ..PGP sig data of WHG deleted...
In <Mutt.19971001191622.alexlh@sarah.yc>, on 10/01/97 at 07, alexlh@yourchoice.nl (Alex Le Heux) said:
In article <34302d8d.8163438@newshost.cyberramp.net> you wrote:
[lots of ranting deleted]
: Banning guns because criminals might use them equates to banning : encryption because criminals might use it. And if you really believe : that both should be banned, then perhaps you should be banned from : using oxygen, because criminals breath it too.
You people just don't get it do you? A gun has one purpose: To kill. Just like any other tool, a gun, if it is available _will_ be used at some point.
So making sure there are lots of guns around only serves to make a lot of people very dead. This is a Bad Thing.
Gun control laws are not the issue. It's a matter of mentality. In Europe, where we have rather strict guncontrol laws, and have had them for a long time a decent human being will not even think of shooting someone else. In the US, where guns are tradition and part of the American way, many people would not think twice before shooting someone. The result of this is that the number of people getting killed by guns is enourmous, be they criminals, little kids, old grannies, or presidents.
This sucks.
We are not trying to export our stupidity, we're just trying to explain to you how we live. We live in a place where we don't even have to think about getting a gun, because the chances of us encountering a gun in the hands of an adversary are negligible.
Wake up and smell the coffee, dude. If you have lots of guns around, you're gonna end up with lots of people getting shot.
What a crock of shit!!
Europe has been in a perpetual state of war for the past 2,000 years where countless tens of millions of people have been slaughtered. Chances are very high that you will face an advisatory with a gun, the fact that he collects a paycheck from a government wont make you any less dead from his bullets.
This Californian now living abroad hears a great deal about what a violent place America is largely because we have the right to bear arms. Of course, I remind these cretins that no other place on the world has a greater degree and respect for civil rights than does America. Amazing when you consider that America is also the ultimate melting pot too. Sure a lot of ethnic and racial tension still exists in America, but let's tour Europe: 1) Northern Ireland, where you have two groups who speak the same language and basically are cut from the same cultural cloth but religions differ 2) The Bosnia region: different languages and religions, possibly different cultures although the years under Tito must have forced the people represented here (the Catholic Croats, the Eastern Orthodox Serbs, and the Muslims) to understand a little of each other's culture 3) Cyprus: different languages and religions for sure, but Greeks and Turks are really brothers and sisters under the skin (i.e., are more alike than they care to admit to) Look at the savagery and genocidal activities of the groups involved in those conflicts now and historically. The kind of ethnic/subcultural strife and difficulties in America pales in comparison to the kind of savage killing and cold-blooded enmity that these "Europeans" have for one another. That'll be the day when any European gives me a sanctimonius lecture about civil and human rights as they oughta be! Don't tell me about the Americans who have left their homeland--maybe moved to Europe ;-) --and said, "Man, am I glad to be rid of my motherland and glad to be here." You will always find the anecdote here and there. And sure for some Americans it will be a step up from whatever hell they thought they were living in the States. But don't expect in the next 10 generations to see Americans in a mass migration to get away from all urban violence ("because of our stupid gun freedom laws") to move to the relative police states that exist everywhere outside of America (with the possible exception of Canada--I love those Canadians). You European snobs should really get a grip yourselves!