From: "Alex Holmes", [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: nick royall, INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] His belief is (and he must have got this from somewhere) is that criminals will invariably use their guns against other criminals and keep them well hidden the rest of the time wheras "ordinary" peple will be more likely to suffer mental abberations and be careless in the husbandry of their guns which leads to public outcry I think there is some validity in what Nick reports here. Society, the media and government seldom make much of a noise when criminals run around killing other criminals. Japan being perhaps the best example. With all their controls over firearms Japanese organised crime is armed to the teeth and they frequently use them against one another. However because this activity is largely between criminal elements it never even gets reported in the media there. (I seem to recall a note from the Japanese authorities in a UN homicide study that said that such inter gang murders were not included in the data as this did not reflect normal society). It is only when violence spills over into "normal" society that everyone starts screaming for action. At that point the law abiding licensed firearm owner becomes the target for the simple reason that they are a clearly visible soft target for legislation. Legislation that they will not approve of but are almost certainly going to obey simply because they are decent law abiding people apart from one or two very very rare aberrations. And that is without looking at any other motives governments or pressure groups have for wanting to disarm civilians. Alex Holmes JHB RSA -------[Cybershooters contacts]-------- Editor: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website & subscription info: www.cybershooters.org
