On Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:29:12 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:

so Louis Freeh should be happy enough (since it meets the "legitimate needs of law enforcement",

Not to bug you personnally, just a comment on the general state of affairs: IMHO, there is no such thing as "legitimate needs of law enforcement" that could justify such a limitation of the freedom of the individuals who had done nothing wrong. "legitimate" in our present context means to "counter things that are presently illegal", notwithstanding that an immense portion of the population, which in essence does not try to get a free ride from some sort of law, do not agree at all with the said law. Somehow, I think that it is time to emphasize our taking of the moral high ground. Ciao jfa Definition: FACISM: n.: a political and economic movement, strongly nationalistic, magnifying the rights of the state as opposed to those of the individual, in which industry, though remaining largely under private ownership, and all administrative political units, are controlled by a strong central government. ------------------------------------------------- "One of the ordinary modes by which tyrants accomplish their purpose, without resistance, is by disarming the people and making it an offense to keep arms". - Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice. ------------------------------------------------- the German gun control laws were enacted by the "liberal" Weimar Republic government that preceded Hitler, and were a strong aid to his coming to power -- because they disarmed Hitler's opponents, and Hitler's adherents ignored them -- as criminals have always ignored gun control laws. Disarming the public is a frequent first step toward dictatorships and genocides. Once the disarming is complete, the public is helpless against those who have the guns. ------------------------------------------------- PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:C58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. Physics, Montreal, Canada DePompadour, Société d'Importation Ltée Limoges fine porcelain and french crystal JFA Technologies, R&D physicists & engineers Instrumentation & control, LabView programming PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:C58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C