On Thu, 2004-09-09 at 23:41, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: > I disagree with ESR's argument though that owning guns should be a > right of personal freedom. There are nutters everywhere, in the USA > they have guns...
Ah, there you run into the problem they have in the UK. Under the old system, your local plod knew which nutters had guns, and could go around and reclaim them - temporarily and without getting a warrant - if anyone started making threats over who had been sleeping where etc. Then they introduced a new system, and suddenly it is easier for nutters to get illegal guns than legal ones. The criminal fraternity spots a ready market, and Woosh! That was the number of unlicenced firearms, and attendant deaths, going through the roof. The cops no longer have a clue over what is in circulation (illegal guns outnumber legal approx 3:1), and have bugger all control over the ones that matter. To make matters worse, weapons that were of illegal types before and seldom seen - such as the submachinegun and cellphone gun - now have new unofficial import franchises and are more accessable than ever before. Vik :v) ---- This PC runs Linux. If you find a virus apparently from me, it has forged the e-mail headers on someone else's machine. Please do not notify me when this occurs. Thanks.
