From: snow <snow@smoke.suba.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 09:46:52 +0800
To: Ernest Hua <hua@xenon.chromatic.com>
Subject: Re: Giving 6 year old kids Uzi's (Was: Responding to Pre-dawn  Unannounced Ninja Raids)
In-Reply-To: <199607221901.MAA28609@server1.chromatic.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.93.960722134213.1025C-100000@smoke.suba.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Mon, 22 Jul 1996, Ernest Hua wrote:
> > > Incidentally, if you are interested, I DO have a child (almost 2 yrs),
> > > 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.
> >      Yes, those guns are evil things. Evil I tell you, constantly shooting
> > people for no reason, going off half-cocked and whooping it up all by 
> > their polished oiled ol selves.
> Hmm.  Sarcasm?  Cannot definitively say, but I'll guess it is.

     Only a little bit.

> >      Isn't it funny how otherwise rational people can ascribe intentions
> > and moral alignement (ie. good/evil) to an inert chunk of steel?
> Assuming you are accusing me of such, you should probably point out
> specifically where I said such a thing.  (If I did, it would be bad
> grammar or some such, and I would certainly retract it.)

      Not accusing you specifically, only really mentioning it in passing.
If I was accusing you of it, I would have said so. 

> >      He also taught me the basics of gun saftey, and made sure that
> > I took those classes that were available to me in the areas of gun 
> > saftey and marksmanship.
> You might be missing the mark too, but I thought the subject was
> giving a gun to every child who enters school, not YOURs or SOME
> EXPERT 6 YEAR OLD's special case.

     I was no expert, and I am (IMO) still a lousy marksman. I just don't
have the money to practice _at all_ so I don't keep my guns here in Chicago.

> Yes, if every child was truly an exemplary God-fearing Christian,
> I would probably have fewer objections to giving every child a
> gun.  After all, they would NEVER use it in a fit of rage or
> jealousy or any such sins ...  Right?

     Hmmm... Sarcasm? I _really_ can't tell. 

> Death is permanent.  A child is prone to accidents.  Maybe those
> of you who are just too "special" and "talented" don't need such
> paternalistic frameworks, but I know my child cannot tell right
> from wrong, good from bad.  He will get better over time.  But I

     Are you telling me that I give your kid more credit than you? There 
is a difference between knowing and caring. 

> don't want another child to pay for my son's less than full
> maturity by getting shot.

    There is a difference between teaching a 6 year old proper gun saftey and 
letting the kid carry. 

     If it was you, you said that you were going to let your kid have a gun 
until he was old enough te get it himself. How do you expect him/her to 
know how to use it if you don't teach them? Would you give a kid the keys 
to a car at 16 if they have never been taught how to drive?

  

Petro, Christopher C.
petro@suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff>
snow@smoke.suba.com