NOTE: This post was sent to me by a fellow extropian who thought it
was wrong that Joe was replying to a post of mine which did not
concern a post of his, and the fact that Joe Dees is well aware of
the fact that I killfiled him long ago.
From: "Joe E. Dees" <joedees@bellsouth.net>
>This is a false dichotomy; I am not in favor of banning firearms
>outright, just keeping them out of the hands of those who can be
>expected, from their mental condition or past behavior, to abuse
>the responsibility concommitant with the right to keep and bear
>firearms. Such a position is required of those who would call
>themselves responsible, and should have the support of all who
>favor responsible gun possession. To advocate the free access of
>firearms for convicted violent criminals, those who have had to be
>legally restrained from intimidating and abusing others, the
>incompetent and the insane is the height of irresponsibility, and
>furthermore, demonstrates a substitution of dogmatic and
>mantric progun-for-everyone rhetoric for rational reflection and
>common sense. The world may be safer if everyone has a gun
>than if everyone does not (although the experiences of Japan and
>Great Britain put the lie to this contention), but there can be no
>question that the safest world of all would be the one where only
>the responsible retain the right to keep and bear, and that
>although such a utopia may be in principle impossible, we should
>put into practice measures designed to more closely approach it.
First of all no one was addressing you, or a post of yours, I
killfiled you long ago....
Now on to the facts:
1) It is illegal for the mentally incompetent to own or possess
firearms.
2) It is illegal for a convicted felon to own or possess a firearm.
Neither myself, nor any other gun owner on this list, nor the NRA,
has ever suggested that these laws be changed, in fact we insist
they be enforced.
3) In many states it is illegal for anyone under a restraining
order against an ex-spouse to possess firearms.
4) Japan, the UK, Canada, Chicago and any other place where
handguns are banned have numerous handgun deaths every year, and
those numbers are increasing.
You are disingenuous, and dishonest (i.e. not to be trusted), in
light of your behavior, I have serious doubts as to whether you
qualify for gun ownership under item 1.
Back into the killfile with you.
Apologies to the list.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
Adler Planetarium www.adlerplanetarium.org
Life Extension Foundation, www.lef.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
Mars Society, www.marssociety.org
Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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