Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site hp-pcd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!hplabs!hp-pcd!mark
From: mark@hp-pcd.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Handguns: we're succumbing to mob ru - (nf)
Message-ID: <1860@hp-pcd.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Sep-83 03:27:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.1860
Posted: Sat Sep 17 03:27:00 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Sep-83 09:19:24 EDT
Sender: netnews@hp-pcd.UUCP
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Corvallis OR
Lines: 42

#R:tekecs:-195400:hp-kirk:7200005:000:1958
hp-kirk!mark    Sep 14 12:54:00 1983

Mental exercise:

     Suppose I am a teen-aged delinquent who is roaming the
streets some evening looking for something to do, and I happen to
wander past old Grandma Smith's house and the thought occurs to
me that it might be interesting to break in to old Grandma's home
and see what I can find.  Police patrols in the area are a joke,
the neighbors are an apathic lot who keep to themselves and old
Grandma can barely get around the house let alone pose any
physical risk to my enterprise.  I have a perfect opportunity to
have a little "fun" with almost no chance of getting caught.

     Now one of the things that prevents a lot more of this from
happening than actually does is that it occurs to me that old
Grandma just might have a gun and I decide that rummaging through
Grandma's house just isn't worth getting blown away for.  Now
here is a case (that probably occurs quite frequently) where a
crime has been averted by the right of someone to own a gun.
This is independent of whether or not Grandma actually owns a gun
or how she feels about gun ownership.  She benefits just the
same.

     So much for the pro-gun ownership side of things.  Another
aspect that must be considered is that maybe Grandma does own a
gun and maybe I'm a little less smart than the average delinquent
and decide to break-in anyway.  Headlines next day:  "Teen-age
boy killed by elderly lady".  Now I am sure there are many of you
who feel I got what was coming to me, but I am equally sure many
of you feel this is a terrible miscarriage of justice that should
not be allowed in our society.  None-the-less, the major point
that I am attempting to make here is that the right to own a gun
is something that you can benefit from even if you do not own
one; and conversely is something you can suffer from being
denied.
                    Points to ponder,
                    Mark Rowe
                    hplabs!hp-cvd!mark
                    Corvallis, Oregon