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Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 00:53:43 -0700 From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net> Subject: Re: Police & military access

I have no problem with the notion that there is no weapon, no technology which certain government officials or police may have but which civilians are *not* allowed to have. I don't think the Founders envisioned any such circumstances.

They considered such a state instrumentality in the army, the precise reason they didn't want a standing army in the first place (ie 2yr. limit on ALL military spending, something flaunted openly). They clearly didn't want such instrumentalities used by peace time forces and considering the constitutional ban on using military forces inside the borders of the US it seems clear they didn't want them used against the citizenry, period.

The usual cited case is of private ownership of nuclear weapons.

You should read "Dad's Nuke".

(The Founders didn't know about nuclear weapons and biological weapons,

At this time Simon De' Laplace was forming his first writings regarding how the sun worked. It discussed gaseous compression and its 'lighting'. Just about everything else in the paper was wrong. Tell that to all the Indians they intentionaly killed with smallpox infected blankets and their commen cold. While they did't didn't have a clue to the actual process they were well aware of how to deal with the diseases. I would say my experience is that the relative cluelessness held by the users of their technology clearly matched those we now trust with it. Jim Choate CyberTects ravage@ssz.com