On Sat, 11 Jan 2003 19:36:03 -0000, John Sparks wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2003 5:41 AM > Subject: Re: Keeping track of the news [was Re: UT (extreme:): the US and > the human rights
> <snip> >> There are no civilized countries where the citizens are not allowed >> to own guns. > <snip> > My dictionary defines civilize as "... get rid of barbarous habits..." > Whilst I do not want to make any claims as to which country is or is not > civilised, the only way I can see that owning guns might get rid of > barbarous habits is by the citizens acting as an armed police force. Ordinary citizens should not act as a though they were an armed police force. Such behavior is rightfully condemned as vigilantism. It is illegal for them to take the law into their own hands. They do however have the right to defend themselves from violent assaults and to use whatever force as may be necessary to protect themselves in such a situation. Criminals prefer to perpetrate their violent assaults in states and communities where the citizens are not allowed to go about armed. Statistics show that there is less crime in states and cities which have less restrictive gun laws to infringe on the rights of the law-abiding. > That > would only be necessary to control potentially bad citizens. Unfortunately > they would also have guns! > Perhaps the only truly civilised society would be one where everyone was > allowed to own weapons but no-one wanted to take up the option. Of course! Sam Heywood -- This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser: http://browser.arachne.cz/
