From: "Dr Chris R. Tame", [EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://www.webleyweb.com/lneil/banabook.html > >Books Banned like Guns Banned > >by L. Neil Smith > >Suppose you were fond of books. You liked their leather bindings, >their fancy endpapers, the way they speak to you of other times and >places, the way they feel in your hand. You even liked the way they >smell. > >Naturally you were aware that books are dangerous. They give people >ideas. Over the long, sad course of history, they've resulted in the >slaughter of millions - books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Das Kapital, >Mein Kampf, even the Bible - but you had too much intelligence, too >much regard for the right of other people to read, write, think >whatever they please, to blame the books themselves. > >Now suppose somebody came along who agreed with you: books are >dangerous - and something oughta be done about it! Nothing you >couldn't live with: numbers could be stamped inside them, a different >number, not just in each kind of book, each title or edition - but in >each and every individual book. "We can keep track of 'em better that >way - it'll help get 'em back if they're stolen." But wait Å . Isn't >the right to freedom of expression, the right to create, exchange, >and collect books - without a trace of government harassment - to >read, write, and think whatever you please, supposed to be guaranteed >by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? No matter who thinks >it's wrong? No matter how "sensible" their arguments may sound for >taking that right away? > >You tried to defend your rights, but nobody listened. You appealed to >the media; they were even more dependent on the Bill of Rights than >you were, and American journalism always gloried in its >self-appointed role as watchdog over the rights of the individual. >But the sad truth was, that during its long, self- congratulatory >history, it was more like a cur caught bloody- muzzled time after >time, savaging the flocks it had been trusted to protect. You were >alone. You insisted that books don't kill people, people kill people. >They laughed and told you that people who read books kill people. > >Time passed Å . Still they weren't satisfied. They wanted the serial >numbers written down in record books. Then they wanted your name >written down beside the numbers, along with your address, your >driver's license number, your age, your race, your sex: "'Cause we >gotta right to know who's reading all these books!" Soon they were >demanding that bookstores be licensed. They forbade you to buy books >by mail or in another state and required that your dealer report you >if you bought more than one book in a five day period. They forbade >you to buy more than one book a month. They demanded that you wait >five days, a week, three weeks before you could pick up a book you'd >already paid for - at a store subject to unannounced warrantless >inspections and punitive closure by heavily-armed government agents. >In Massachusetts and New Jersey, the mere possession of a book meant >an automatic year in jail. At one point they offered to spend tax >money to buy your books: "You've got too many. This is a purely >voluntary measure - for the time being." > >Now they want to confiscate any of your books they think are too >long: "No honest citizen needs a book with that many pages!" > >Your taxes will be spent to burn them, and somehow you have a feeling >that it's just the beginning, that some dark midnight, no matter how >peaceable or agreeable or law-abiding you are, you're going to hear >that knock on your door Å Yes, books are dangerous. They start holy >wars, revolutions, and make people dissatisfied with their lives. But >this is ridiculous! > >Is it a nightmare? Another Gulag horror story? A bloodsoaked page >from the history of fascism? No, it's just the commonplace oppression >people suffer every day when they feel about guns the way you feel >about books. Okay, maybe that feeling's hard to understand. But just >try justifying your own love of books to a Reverand Donald Wildmon or >an Ayatollah Khomeini. The very requirement that you must, in >violation of your basic human rights, will make you inarticulate with >rage. > >Gun owners laugh at the notion of human rights, because they have >none. Guns are dangerous. Like books. Like books, the right to >create, exchange, and collect them without a trace of government >harassment, is supposed to be guaranteed. No matter who thinks it's >wrong. No matter how "sensible" their arguments may sound for taking >your rights away. So what makes you think your books are any safer >than your neighbor's guns? Whether you like books or guns, the >issue's the same: WHEN ANYBODY'S RIGHTS ARE THREATENED, EVERYBODY'S >RIGHTS ARE THREATENED. > > > >L. Neil Smith is the award-winning author of 19 books including The >Probability Broach, The Crystal Empire, Henry Martyn, The Lando >Calrissian Adventures, Pallas, and (forthcoming) Bretta Martyn. An >NRA Life Member and founder of the Libertarian Second Amendment >Caucus, he has been active in the Libertarian movement for 34 years >and is its most prolific and widely-published living novelist. > >Permission to redistribute this article is herewith granted by the >author - provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its entirety, >and appropriate credit given. > Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
