From: Tom Walls, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Geeks with guns!
http://www.digitalmass.com/news/daily/08/28/geeks_with_guns.html
By day, they're mild-mannered engineers By night, they're geeks with
guns By Alex Pham, Globe Staff, 8/28/2000 In what has become a ritual
during Linux conventions throughout the nation, dozens of computer
programmers have been gathering to catch up with old friends, trade tips
on the latest hacking techniques, and fire off a few rounds at the local
shooting range.
Their most recent meeting took place in Silicon Valley two weeks ago.
The occasion was LinuxWorld in San Jose, a confab of
20,000 devotees of the Linux computer operating system.
Call them Linux Libertarians. This subculture of hackerdom is less
about guns than it is about an elaborate philosophy of a faction of
freedom-loving geeks with an acute distrust for authority. To
understand them is to understand the popularity of Linux, an operating
system that spawned out of the insurgent ''free software'' movement.
Members of this movement believe the source code - or recipe - for all
software programs should be freely available to the public.
It's a notion anathema to companies that sell software, especially
Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating system is seen as the
uber-rival of Linux.
Eric Raymond, founder of the Geeks With Guns group, summed it up best.
''Linux is about getting freedom,'' Raymond said. ''Personal firearms
are about keeping it.'' If attendance at Geeks With Guns events is any
mea- sure, this philosophy is gaining ground. A record number of geeks
showed up to the latest shooting event at Target Masters, a local
shooting range, according to Raymond, who has organized a dozen of these
gatherings over the past two years.
Word had gotten out, and the 40-geek group got more than its usual share
of novices that evening. They received a tutorial from Jordan K.
Hubbard, a veteran shooter and vice president of Berkeley Software
Design Inc. Hubbard issued precise instructions as though he was
compiling code.
Hubbard, who has been shooting guns since he was 7 years old, also acted
as arms dealer that evening, bringing seven of his own guns for others
to shoot. A crowd favorite was the Sig-Sauer P220 0.45 millimeter
automatic handgun; another was the sleek silver Walther PPK, also known
as the ''James Bond'' gun.
James R. Maynard, a software engineer with Compaq Computer Corp. in
Houston, was among those who came to socialize.
Maynard greeted Raymond as if the two were old friends. In fact, they
had only met in person the day before. But the two had corresponded via
e-mail for over a decade. This, Raymond said, is a common occurrence
among geeks.
After hitting a few bull's-eyes, Maynard and Raymond talk about gun
control. The discussion becomes animated as more geeks join in.
Needless to say, the conversation is heavily biased against gun control.
''It's OK to stand on your principles,'' said Heather Stern, a senior
engineer at Tuxtops Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., and one of a handful of
''Linux chix'' at the event. ''It's not OK for you to step on mine.''
John Charles Randolph, a Macintosh programmer from San Jose, Calif.,
adds with impeccable logic, ''If you illegalize guns, then only
criminals will have guns.'' What is it with geeks and guns?
''I think engineers don't particularly like being told what to do,''
said Randolph. ''And gun control is about the government telling us
what we can and can't do. They're treating us like children.'' Raymond,
in an earlier interview, tried to explain. ''Hackers tend to have a
broadly libertarian view of the world,'' he said. ''Whatever hackers
label themselves, they tend to be more individualistic and more
skeptical of concentrations of power. From that attitude, there follows
a sympathy with the Second Amendment [of the US Constitution, which
bestows the right of individuals to bear arms].'' There is also a
revenge-of-the-nerds factor, Raymond admitted. ''This is a population
that shies away from conventional sports,'' he said.
Of course, not all geeks like guns. And not all geeks with guns are
libertarian. Some geeks like to shoot guns for the sheer fun of it.
Sarah Luger, director of developer relations at OpenSales Inc. in San
Mateo, Calif., considers herself a ''liberal'' but also a gun
enthusiast. Luger, a descendant of the inventor of the automatic pistol
used during both World Wars, likes to schedule her first dates at the
shooting range.
''Some guys get intimidated, but I'm a pretty full-on person, so this is
a good way for guys to get to know me,'' said Luger.
But for Michael Pelletier, guns are a key part of his political
expression. Pelletier, a senior engineer with Taos, a technical
consulting firm in Santa Clara, Calif., is a walking encyclopedia on gun
control. A single question can trigger a formidable lecture from
Pelletier, complete with legal citations and verbatim quotations from
Supreme Court justices, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.
''Gun control laws simply take away the right of ordinary citizens to
protect themselves,'' said Pelletier. He said he plans to print bumper
stickers that read ''Linux and Guns - Tools of Freedom.'' Pelletier, a
member of the Libertarian Party, sees a clear connection between the
right to carry firearms and the Linux ''free software'' movement.
''The myriad architects of Linux and other free software projects have a
very clear understanding of what freedom actually means and how it
applies to our everyday lives, and how the government can act to take it
away,'' said Pelletier.
Asked whether society would be better off if there were simply no guns,
Pelletier remarks with the incredulous look of an engineer being asked
to do the impossible.
--
Almost makes me want to switch to Linux. Almost.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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