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From: notes@ucbcad.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: murder laws vs. handgun restrictions - (nf)
Message-ID: <331@ucbcad.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Oct-83 15:10:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbcad.331
Posted: Sat Oct  1 15:10:58 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Oct-83 12:09:32 EDT
Sender: notes@ucbcad.UUCP
Organization: UC Berkeley CAD Group
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#R:ccieng5:-15600:ucbesvax:2900021:000:1957
ucbesvax!turner    Oct  1 09:32:00 1983

Is it really the case, as Karl ("Dead Meat") Kleinpaste would have it, that
a given law that arbitrarily restricts a citizen's behavior in some way is
therefore an insult (which he "resents") to that citizen's intelligence?

Let's take an admittedly trivial example--parking 20 minutes in a fifteen-
minute zone.  Why fifteen minutes, fer chrissakes?  Why not SIXTEEN?  Who's
to say what an appropriate length of time is?  Shouldn't the "average joe"
be able to figure it out?  Why must the government take it upon itself to
make this judgement for him, rather than give him the benefit of the doubt?
Jeez, makes me wanna pull out my .357 magnum and just blow that metermaid
away!

Given one chance in thousands that a given "joe" might be having a problem or
two (like being obsessed with Jody Foster), is a law that might have some
positive regulatory effect such a bad idea?  I mean, as long as we're going
to have laws, they are going to be arbitrary and demeaning to someone.  For
Karl to complain of a law that *reduces* his chance of having to face some
nut with pistol sounds suspiciously like he can hardly wait for such a chance
at total vindication.  I wish he would drop the Charles Bronson imitations for
half a minute.
--------------
Slightly Powder-Burned,
	Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)

P.S.:	Before jumping all over me for being "anti-gun", consider that I
	have enjoyed target shooting, with a rifle.  (No, silly, that's
	*not* a threat!)  I have had some training in how guns ought to be
	handled.  In particular, I learned that guns are ALWAYS LOADED,
	whether they are yours or someone else's, whether you "know better"
	or not.  If Karl had died under police fire in the hallway of his
	apartment (as I understand the circumstances, from his account),
	there would be no one to blame but Karl.  I certainly wouldn't
	blame the cops in that situation.  Their behavior might have been
	exemplary, but it was hardly mandatory.