Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!rex!uflorida!cs.fau.edu!terryb From: terryb@cs.fau.edu (terry bohning) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: New Year's Eve idiocy - an eyewitness report Message-ID: Date: 13 Jan 91 18:25:22 GMT References: <1991Jan13.050519.2039@rodan.acs.syr.edu> Sender: bbs@cs.fau.edu (Waffle BBS) Organization: Florida Atlantic University Lines: 51 What the hell is this doing in sci.electronics? amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes: > <1991Jan11.234809.19061@cs.ucla.edu> loving@lanai.cs.ucla.edu > <1991Jan9.200754.8857@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> eacj@batcomputer.tn.cornell > >>I was in Miami during New Year's Eve. The locals there have gone way beyon > >>M-80's. At midnight, they have this quaint custom of going outside > >>thier automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the sky. > > only 1 legal fully automatic weapon has been used in a crime since 1935 > >National Firearms Act (which stiffly regulates the ownership of such weapons > >I seriously doubt that you heard much automatic weapons fire, but Idon't dou > >that you heard weapons fire, and quite possibly semi-automatic weapons fire. > >I just doubt that anyone who legally owned a full auto would be shooting it > >town and risk a serious misdemeanor and I doubt that anyone who illegally ow > >a full auto (a federal felony already) will be advertising it on New Years.. > > Mike, get a grip, take some guacamole dip and call your analyist. Illegal > full auto weapons are available in every major city in the country. I have > het several people who have gone to the big house for peddling them. A cache > of them were just recovered in northern florida by LEO. Portions of southern > florida & miami have become a haven for law breaking scum. They would think > little about getting caught with or shooting a full auto. This tradition > of weapons fire is a age old one of spanish/south american descent. > I recall a section on cnn saying the number of people accidently shot in > something like bueno aerias (sp) last year, and it was rather scary (just > on that day...). The accompying audio did sound like a full blown war. > However, I'd agree that MOST of the shots did come from (generally/usuall/ > kinda/sorta) law abiding citizens/resident aliens and originated from either > semi-auto or full manual weapons. The great number and density of firing > makes the sound and generates the fear of automatic weapons. > People who use guns to commit crime should be utterly destroyed, and would > simplye use another weapon if available. The simple fact that a certain is > illegal will not stop or even persuade a criminal from using it, simply > because it's illgeal, after all they are already (committed) to breaking > laws by commiting crimes in the first place. Focus at the root of the > evil, which is the criminal act, not the weapon used to support a act, and > punish the guilty appropriatrly. As mike so clearly points out, only a tiny > fraction of legal weapons are used for illegal purposes > al > > > > > > > > -- > Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University > InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu > Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE