From: Joe E. Dees (joedees@bellsouth.net)
Date: Thu May 27 1999 - 14:43:28 MDT
Date sent: Thu, 27 May 1999 12:44:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terry Donaghe <tdonaghe@yahoo.com>
Subject: Joe and Gun Control
To: extropians@extropy.com
Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
> I've followed this thread a little bit and have noticed what most of
> the rest of us have noticed - that this is an issue that many of us
> have very strong feelings about.
>
> I share some of your concerns that guns are very good killers and that
> gun control advocates too often insist on punishment after the fact
> instead of prevention before the fact.
>
> However, consider the following (and correct me if I'm wrong):
>
> There are millions upon millions of guns in this country. Many are
> legally owned by peaceful citizens who have no intention of ever
> harming anyone. Many are also owned by criminals who gladly use them
> to commit horrible crimes such as rape, murder, etc. etc.
>
> Without some draconian governmental involvement which would curtail an
> incredible amount of liberty (door to door searches, roadblocks, etc),
> criminals will always have ready access to firearms in this country.
>
> Knowing this, what is your extropian solution to this problem? If
> citizens are to be denied access to firearms, please explain how they
> are to defend themselves from the criminals who still have weapons.
>
> How would gun control fit in with the Extropians principles of Open
> Society and Self-Direction?
>
> If I have misread your intentions, I apologize, but it seems as though
> you very much wish to restrict peaceful people's access to firearms.
>
> I'm very interested in your response.
>
As I have stated before, the most peaceful and safest society is
one in which there is no restriction upon the law-abiding and
responsible citizenry owning guns, yet strives to keep them out of
the hands of those who would have a disproportionate propensity to
misuse them (violent criminals, the mentally deficient and/or
deranged, children, and spouse and or child abusers). To do this
requires all gun sales to proceed through background checks to
identify such individuals and prevent them from completing their
attempted gun purchases, and the child-proofing of all weapons by
means of key or combination trigger locks (or under reasonably
secure lock and key, not just in a glass cabinet) which are held in
homes in which children reside. With the passage of time, natural
attrition (keeping the guns out of the hands of the new irresponsible
as the old irresponsible die of old age, commit crimes and are
incarcerated, or divest) would facilitate the evolution of a safer
nation.
> ===
> Terry Donaghe: terry@donaghe.com
> http://www.donaghe.com
> "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that
you were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams
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