From: Cynthia Brown <cynthb@sonetis.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 04:38:13 +0800
To: Alex Le Heux <alexlh@yourchoice.nl>
Subject: Re: "Show me an example of terrorists using the Internet or crypto"
In-Reply-To: <Mutt.19971001191622.alexlh@sarah.yc>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/.3.91.971001154053.7185A-100000@mrburns.iosphere.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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. 

Cynthia, unrepentant bleeding-heart liberal
===============================================================
		   Cynthia H. Brown, P.Eng.
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