>In "common use"? By whom? Civilians or the military? That line of >argument clearly points to military, and to some serious hardware. It >doesn't work to say by civilians after a long period in which some kinds >of weapons have been forbidden to civilians, but used by criminals. >Perhaps in common use by criminals?
I would be happy to start at the position that civilian weapons are protected, as long as we all recognize the obvious fact that in this country and under our laws and traditions, government law enforcement agencies are civilian bodies. Any weapons deemed suitable for civilian governmental use against criminals are, by that fact, suitable for private civilian use in defense against those same criminals. Our police agencies are not equipped or expected to fight off invading armies blitzing across the Great Plains -- they are equipped and expected to go up against the very criminals who overwhelmingly prey not upon officers of the law but upon ordinary civilians. Just like ordinary civilians, police officers who commit crimes with their weapons are subject to civilian courts, not military tribunals. (I am not aware of any police agencies equipped with artillery, flamethrowers, jet fighters, or the like, so for now we avoid the stickier questions about what military weapons are suitable for possession by civilians who comprise the general militia. If there are such agencies then the state or local government that has so equipped its police are simply hoist on their own petard, so to speak.) -- John E. Briggs [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phoenix, Arizona, USA We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
