From: Peter H Jackson, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>As there has been so much venom vented on this topic, I would
>love to know
>what views the contributors hold on the subject of who should
>not be allowed to hold a firearm or shotgun certificate.
>I take it that it is the general consensus that there should be
>at least some restriction somewhere along the line?
Why ever should such a notion attract "general consensus" among
educated or thinking people?
If you are going to argue on Cybershooters in favour of turning a
fundamental individual right (self protection) into a government
monopoly, you must start with a cost-benefit analysis. So go
ahead. Start with John Lott, and work your way through Kates,
Kleck, Cramer, Hume, Wright, and a few dozen others. Show us
where these silly law professors went wrong.
As for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals - well, that's
a fine joke! Ninety years of gun control in Britain, and who are
the people with pistols?
Guns are really no harder to make than alcohol, and trying to
"control" them is just about as effective.
I was all of eight years old when I made my first gun. More
recently, Luty has shown that if you can read, add, subtract and
use basic DIY tools, you can make an erzatz sub-machine gun. If
you can also work out how to switch on a lathe, you can make a
rifle which will win matches at 1,000 yards. My own UK record
holding rifle was built on a 40-year old lathe which was chucked
out of a garage.
The restrictions which you have in mind, be they heavy or light,
bear only on people who have no desire or propensity to commit
crime. Such restrictions are not in the interests of society as a
whole. So the answer to your assumption is no. Guns should be
sold and exchanged as freely as apples, individually or by the
pound.
Rgds, Peter.
www.jacksonrifles.com
--
I've had two people (both not in this country) relate to me
stories of how they can make gun parts using some sort of
scanning process that copies the part and writes a CNC process
for it, I'm sure Peter Sarony knows more about it than I do.
