--- "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> At 10:44 12-6-01 -0700, Dean Forster wrote:
>
> >** Horrendous irresponsibility with guns still does
> >not justify their confiscation or governmental
> >regulation.
>
> Why not? If you drive your car irresponsibly, the
> government can take away
> your car and your driver's license. They do that
> because you are a danger
> to others. If you are irresponsible with guns, you
> are also a danger to
> others, so the government has every right to take
> your gun away from you.
> The government is then doing what they are supposed
> to do: protect the
> public from dangerous individuals.
>
I wasn't trying to argue for the relaxation of
penalties against lawbreaking individuals, I was
arguing against restrictive legislation. Above, I
should have put "further governmental regulation".
see below.
>
> > The solution is, say it with me.. taking
> >personal responsibility. Making it a societal
> norm.
>
> The idea is nice, but it would take too long before
> it would become a
> societal norm. If we would start drilling personal
> responsibility into
> everyone today, it would still take a few
> generations before it would
> become a societal norm. The alternative is
> regulation. If we can
> dramatically reduce the number of accidental deaths
> by guns in two years
> through regulation, or reach that goal in two
> generations through teaching
> people responsibility, I'm all for regulation.
>
>
> Jeroen
>
>
I love how people automatically assume that there is
almost nothing in place already. De facto
registration is already in effect. You have the 3 day
waiting period for handguns, you have to present a
valid form of ID when making a purchase. There is a
form in quadruplicate that is filled out and is
retained by the dealer permanently- if the gun you
purchased is found by the police, it *will* be traced
back to you. If the dealer is out of business the
records are held at the state or federal level.
Requiring firearms safety and educational training is
already implemented in the states that allow concealed
carry. You are required to take 16 hours of
instruction in this state (AZ) for your initial
certification, and 8 hours every 4 years as a
refresher. Realistically, the only thing that you can
do to reduce gun violence is restrict law abiding
citizens from having them. Remember prohibition?
Criminal empires came out of that that linger today.
All of this is beside my original (long winded) point
that as a citizen of the US you have the right to own
a firearm, that there are very good reasons for having
that right, and that the role of the government is
already too prevalent in our lives. Good God, is it
such a stretch to solve our problems through a
different medium than the government? Why is it that
so many seem so eager to give up rights and freedoms
for a quick fix?
Dean Forster
_________________________________________________________________________
> Wonderful World of Brin-L Website:
> http://go.to/brin-l
>
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