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From: preece@uicsl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.general
Subject: Re: The wheels of Justice turn slow, but - (nf)
Message-ID: <2677@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Aug-83 22:41:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.2677
Posted: Wed Aug 31 22:41:06 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Sep-83 03:47:48 EDT
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#R:hou5a:-38700:uicsl:5400015:000:2315
uicsl!preece    Aug 31 07:53:00 1983

I apologize for putting this here, but Scott Farleigh has committed an
unpardonable sin by putting quotes around something I never said, and
I refuse to leave it at that. I won't say anything more about guns
hereafter unless someone brings it up somewhere more appropriate.

With respect to the little old lady in New York:
	1. I wasn't there, I don't know if she was accosted, threatened,
	  hassled, or asked for money; I do know that I don't want her
	  notion of what constitutes a threat to be the justification
	  for deadly force.
	2. Suppose it were legal for her to have a gun. Would you want
	  her firing a gun at the Port Authority building? You can't
	  fire a gun there without hitting SOMEBODY, and the odds on it
	  being the guilty person just aren't that good.
	3. Suppose a Port Authority cop had seen her brandishing the gun
	  and blown her away?

Guns are dangerous. In virtually all circumstances they are more
dangerous than anything you're going to face. They are virtually useless
when you ARE threatened (if it were legal and common for people to carry
guns, do you think the average mugger would give you time to get it out
of your pocket or purse?). They are probably more dangerous to the
innocent bystander than to the person threatening you (even police people,
who get regular training in accuracy and are firmly taught to not
use weapons when there is danger to others, hit bystanders with some
regularity). The gun is expensive, makes your clothing look lumpy, and
is a nice prize for anyone who does rob you. It is also a good reason
for someone robbing you to make sure you can't use it, like by killing
you first.

The police take a lot of guns away from people in the course of the year.
Most of those people are the sort you would prefer to have off the streets.
Gun laws mean that they can in fact be taken off the streets.

And in reply to the person who asked about whether I would want to
have my grandmother in a similar situation, well, one of my grandmothers
was a manic depressive who generally couldn't be trusted with anything,
let alone guns, and the other had far too much sense to carry one.

Owning a handgun is bad enough, carrying one on the street is criminal.
Fortunately, in most places it's literally criminal. 

scott preece
pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece