Cynthia Brown wrote:

On Wed, 1 Oct 1997, Alex Le Heux wrote:

...

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.

I agree wholeheartedly. Uncontrolled guns do not solve problems, they

create them. If most households have at least one firearm, it makes it that much easier for a criminal to obtain one by stealing yours while you are at work.

Canada may be regulated to death according to most libertarians, but I for one like it that way. I can walk alone and unarmed at night in Ottawa, Toronto, etc. without fearing for my life. Can a female resident of Washington or New York say the same? Our schools do not have metal detectors at the entrances because they are not needed.

IMNSHO the best way to fight crime is not with bigger guns than the "bad guys", but with better social programs such as universal health care, and improved day care so single parents can show their kids what a productive lifestyle looks like. This takes longer than blowing the brains out of some teenager that feels his only path to a better life is through crime, and it doesn't give the same adrenalin rush. However, it works at the source of crime, and not the consequences. This kind of talk makes me sick. For a start universal healthcare is totally unaffordable, when there is little or no cost the end-user over use of the services provided are inevitable, just look at Medicare here in Australia. Social security above certain levels leave recipients unmotivated to take responsibility for their own lives and is a bad example to their children, who will probably number largely among those teenagers who do turn to crime.

Cynthia, unrepentant bleeding-heart liberal Robert, unrepentant dry.

=============================================================== Cynthia H. Brown, P.Eng. E-mail: cynthb@iosphere.net | PGP Key: See Home Page Home Page: http://www.iosphere.net/~cynthb/ Junk mail will be ignored in the order in which it is received.

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