[Platt] the terrorists in Iraq armed with little more than handguns and explosives are doing a pretty good number on the US Military.
[Poot] Just to let you know, the insurgents in that country are extremely heavily armed. RPG's and Kalasnikovs are fairly easy to attain. [Arlo] Yeah, it's a bad analogy. There are plenty of reasons I support responsible gun ownership, from self-defense to hunting to sport target shooting. But its rather weak to say we arm our citizens with handguns in the expectation they can use them to overthrow a government. While this may have been a realistic expectation back in 1790, unless a militia can get its hands on military weapons, there simply is nothing a group of citizens with handguns and hunting rifles are going to do. (And if the military defects, it will be the military that handles the rebellion). At any rate, for me its a moot point. I certainly do support responsible gun ownership, and if some people want to believe that part of that is keeping a corrupt government in check, then while I think its a bit delusional, it does no harm. [Platt] The U.S. ranks 24th among the 62 countries listed [in murder rate per capita] [Arlo] That's great until you notice that US is the top western country, coming in 24th only because areas of places like Zimbabwe, Estonia and Russia; corrupt regimes where gangs basically "rule". In the "Western World", America is tops. In fact, the next "western" country to enter the list is France at #40. So, America basically is as safe as Zimbabwe, a country where armed gangs roam the streets and kill with impunity, while France is 4 times safer than the US. For reference, it is safer in Azerbaijan, which comes in at 2pth. Great, thanks for the list. [Platt] Yes, I agree completely. I don't think a supposed "culture of violence" has anything to do with it. The guy was nuts. [Arlo] Why are there 4 times as many nuts (per capita) in the US than France, and (per capita) as many nuts in America as in Zimbabwe? Yes, the guy was nuts. There should have been some way a background check would have denied him a gun, the clearly mentally unstable (and criminal) forfeit gun ownership privileges. [Ham] Two expressions of sanity in a troubled world. I am in complete agreement with these statements, and I commend you both for stating the truth about America's constitutional right and the cultural shortcomings that have compromised it. [Arlo] Yes, notice that Canada, a neighboring country with gun laws in many ways similar to the US, ranks 44th on Platt's list. If it is simply a few "nutcases" and not a culture of violence, then there must be something in the water here. By the way, my daughter's school (State College Area) is closed tomorrow due to them finding a note threatening a Columbine shooting here. (http://www.scasd.org/249775629134616/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=340063&C=50731) Great. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
