From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 13:57:23 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Imprisoned for Not Having a Gun?
Message-ID: <ae2f8d2303021004ed0d@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 5:35 PM 8/8/96, talon57@well.com wrote:
>Jonathon <grafolog@netcom.com> wrote:
>
>>Said ordinance being passed, as a protest against Elk Grove, IL
>>passing an orinance, banning handguns.  Anybody know when Elk
>>Grove revoked their ordinance?  Crime went down for six months
>>there [ Elk Grove ] after the ban was passed, then it went up
>>far surpassing previous crime levels, for all types of crime.
>
>Pardon me Jonathon, but I believe you are confusing Morton Grove
>with Elk Grove. I do not have the statistics for the crime rates
>there, but several friends who have moved from there insist the
>crime rate has continued upwards as you mentioned. Also there are
>a couple of other interesting facts.

Regarding that town nearby that passed a _requirement_ that all households
have a gun:

"Ma'm, I'm Deputy Uptite, of the Dork's Grove Sheriff's Department. I'm
here to check on reports that you haven't obtained a gun, as required by
law. Could I come in and take a look around?"

"But I don't like guns, and I don't want one in my house."

"I'm sorry, ma'm, but it's the law. According to the People's
Self-Protection Act of 1997, you _must_ have  a gun. Now what I'm going to
do is give you a break. Think of this as a "fix-it ticket." Take this down
to my cousin's gun store, right off of Main and 10th, and he'll get you set
up with a Glock 23 or maybe a nice little Beretta. Shouldn't cost you more
than $400, and it'll save you a 6-month stretch at the work farm. Have a
nice day. Oh, and be sure to spend at least an hour at the week at the
range...that's part of the law, too."

---

Pro-gun fascism is just as bad a anti-gun fascism.

I do recall that the "you must have a gun" town had some exemptions for
folks opposed to guns, blah blah, but it still is intensely revolting to me
that any town could ever pass such a law. Much as I think being armed is
useful and all that, allowing such a law to go unchallenged feeds into the
same approach that tries to ban guns...if guns can be required, they can be
banned. What part of the Second Amendment did they not understand? (Legal
quibblers will perhaps say the Second applies to _Congress_ (as in
"Congress shall make no law"), and not to states and communities. I
disagree. Can a town restrict free speech just because it is not the
Congress?)

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."