[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
HI Sue,
The original meaning in the Bill of Rights was so that the states could
have their own militia, but your interpretation is correct. Since the
revolution was directed against the tyranny of a big government there was
a strong fear against any big government telling the individual states
what to do. And, of course, slavery was a big issue. You're right,
today it is meaningless with respect to private citizens taking up arms
to oppose or defend against the US government, in spite of what the
militia groups say.
I don't think it would be feasible or possible to ban all private gun
ownership, nor do I think it would eliminate crime. But I DO think we
have a serious gun problem in this country and that there ARE things that
can and need to be done.
Bill
On Sun, 05 Apr 1998 15:52:31 -0700 Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>
>Hi Bill:
>
>I think it would be next to impossible to get rid of guns in the
>United
>States now.
>
>Japan and England both have never allowed guns to begin with, so
>therefore they didn't have the problem of getting their citizens
>approval to rid their country of them. Our country was founded on the
>idea that the citizens should be allowed to have guns. The original
>meaning being so that the government couldn't take over the country.
>That idea now is ridiculous because if the government wanted to take
>over the country there is no way we could stop it. However, people
>are
>not going to let those guns go.
>
>The crime rate in Japan is starting to pick up now though. The
>economy
>is shot to hell and homelessness is now a part of the landscape. :(
>Yoko was telling me that only a few years ago there was no such thing
>as
>a homeless person in Japan. Now it is getting more and more common.
>So
>the lack of guns doesn't necessarily mean that there would be no
>crime.
>But I bet there are fewer murders and such.
>
>Sue
>>
>> Hi Jackie,
>>
>> I agree in principle, but when you have such a disparity between the
>US
>> and most other countries with respect to numbers of people who are
>> injured or killed via gun shots I think it is imperative to look for
>as
>> many ways as possible to reduce these numbers. I know one can make
>the
>> same analogy with respect to automobiles but this becomes apples and
>> oranges when one considers the cost/benefit and the need for an
>> automobile vs the need to own a gun.
>>
>> Bill
>
>--
>Two rules in life:
>
>1. Don't tell people everything you know.
>2.
>
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