From: Rick (Rick@cyborg.force9.net)
Date: Fri May 28 1999 - 18:31:29 MDT
> Charlie Stross [charlie@antipope.org] also wrote:
> >If widespread gun ownership deters crime, then one would expect the USA
> >to be a crime-free zone compared to the UK
<SNIP>
Remember the Dunblane massacre in Scotland where so many infants were shot
and killed? After that there was an uproar and the government acted on it.
Now the UK has probably the toughest gun laws on the planet. Freedom?
Despite these laws, we are not any less free than those in the US. We're
just free without worrying so much whether our kids will be shot to death at
school or whether a burglar will easily shoot us to death when they break
into our homes.
I cannot believe people use freedom as leverage behind having the right to
carry a gun. It is pointless in this day and age. Sounds to me like many
people believe they are still living in the world as it was 200 year ago.
In the UK, when crimes involve guns special police units take care of it.
You see, in the UK they actually employ police officers that are trained for
those situations. Unlike in the US where people obviously have so little
faith in the law enforcement agencies that they feel they must deal death
themselves. As for protecting yourself, chances are, in a situation where
they police don't have time to respond, you'd probably be dead anyway before
you have a chance to brand your gun and do that bit of shooting which people
are just dying to do (no pun intended). Is that a wrong perspective? Well,
then why dictate you need a gun to 'defend' yourself, what else do you plan
on doing with a gun?
Rick
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