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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!nrh
From: nrh@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Handguns: we're succumbing to mob ru - (nf)
Message-ID: <337@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Sep-83 08:41:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: inmet.337
Posted: Mon Sep 19 08:41:53 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Sep-83 21:00:34 EDT
Lines: 76

#R:tekecs:-195400:inmet:4000023:000:3364
inmet!nrh    Sep 18 16:02:00 1983

 [  As I recall, Robert Heinlein's answer to this in "Expanded Universe"
    is that SWITZERLAND, where people go armed to the teeth by LAW
    has fewer armed murders per capita than the US also.  One problem with
    anecdotal evidence is that either once has chosen extreme case,
    or somebody else has a contradicting anecdote.

					- Nat Howard
  ]

I fail to see how the Swiss law that requires citizens to posess
rifles for the defence of the country is relevant to the question
of handguns.

	Bill Jefferys  8-%
	Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712   (Snail)
	ihnp4!kpno!utastro!bill   (uucp)
	utastro!bill@utexas-11   (ARPA)
[   That's easy!  Consider the oft-used argument that permitting 
    people to own guns permits their lethal use in situations that
    would otherwise not result in deaths.  The usual argument given
    is that if guns were not permitted, killing people would be more
    difficult, and require more emotional commitment than just
    pulling a trigger.

    I admit, rifles and handguns are very different in the sense
    of how easy they are to carry around on the street, but 
    the "emotional outburst" scenario seems to depend more on
    people who know each other, often living in the same home.

    To avoid some quibbling about the frequency of this argument, or
    the usefulness of refuting it, consider two quotes from this notes
    string:

	***** inmet:net.followup / omsvax!dps / 11:48 am  Sep  8, 1983
	...
	Most deaths from handguns are not caused by professional
	criminals, but by people with an emotional involvement with
	their victims.  Having a handgun readily available makes crimes
	of passion easy.
	...

	***** inmet:net.followup / uiuccsb!leimkuhl / 10:32 pm  Sep 11, 1983

	The important point is that most handgun deaths in this country
	are the result of domestic disputes.  Armed lunatics, muggers,
	and hired killers account for few of the more than 10,000
	murders occurring in the US each year. It is in that instant
	when rage completely overwhelms the jealous lover that the
	trigger is more often squeezed.  It is the drunken victim of
	some barroom breach of etiquette who might through twisted
	logic see death as just punishment for an insult.

	The handgun is an extremely lethal weapon (yes, even a .22).  A
	knife is only lethal when persons are face-to-face, and the
	killer is either well trained or is completely deranged and can
	inflict consecutive multiple blows without the victim
	escaping.  Likewise, no other easily obtainable weapon gives an
	attacker the power to do so much damage for so little physical
	and emotional effort--the handgun allows one to project death
	from the safe distance of a few feet, thus making murder clean
	as well as simple.

    I suggest the requirement that there be a gun in the house is 
    sufficient to make a gun available for those moments of emotional
    overload.  Further, I suggest that a rifle makes such a murder
    almost as ""clean as well as simple" as a handgun (you have to 
    run downstairs get the rifle out of the cabinet and come back, rather than
    simply drawing the handgun). 
    Finally, I admit I'm surprised.  The Swiss law merely requires ownership
    of rifles?  What about handguns?  Is one permitted to own them? 
    required to register them?  Or what?
						- Nat Howard
]