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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame,net.legal
Subject: Re: Personal Defenses
Message-ID: <141@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-May-85 12:36:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.141
Posted: Wed May  1 12:36:47 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 03:29:54 EDT
References: <1518@decwrl.UUCP> <420@utai.UUCP> <539@ihu1h.UUCP> <188@spar.UUCP> <118@kontron.UUCP> <211@spar.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Irvine, CA
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Xref: watmath net.politics:8805 net.flame:9663 net.legal:1637

> >>> I think the point of whether it is good or not good to carry personal
> >>> defense weapons (unconcealed) is moot when compared with the fact that if I
> >>> WANT to and am not violating someone else's personal rights, I should be
> >>> able to. I think that says it all.
> >>> 					Jay Mitchell
> >> 
> >> The trouble is that some people feel they have a personal right not to
> >> be faced with an implicit threat of armed force.
> >> 
> >> 					Baba
> > 
> > Some people feel they have a personal right not be faced by homosexuals. 
> > Some people feel they have a personal right to not live in the same society
> > with atheists.  Baba seems to have the Moral Majority mentality, the view
> > that non-aggressive actions are an appropriate area for intervention by 
> > others.
> >
> > Clayton Cramer
> 
> Are trying to say that homosexuals and atheists are public safety hazards,
> or are you suffering from feelings of sexual or religious persecution?
> Regulating the bearing of arms in public places has more to do with
> preventing accidents and fatal emotional outbursts than with enforcing
> anyone's standard of morality.  What people do with consenting firearms
> in the privacy of their homes and churches is their own business.
> 
> 						Baba

A lot of fundamentalists now argue that homosexuals *are* a public health
problem (because of AIDS).  In fact, the city of San Francisco *has* 
started to regulate private actions between consenting adults in the gay
bathhouses as a "public health" issue.

Second, the Second Amendment to the Constitution makes it very clear that
the government cannot prohibit the carrying of firearms in public places.
Regulate, perhaps, but if you look into the history of court decisions in
relation to the Second Amendment, you'll see that the courts have far more
often upheld these rights than denied them.  (The Senate Select Subcommittee
on the Constitution published a list of decisions a couple years ago in
the hearing proceedings on this issue.)

Finally, about that cheap shot: I am not persecuted for my sexuality or
my faith; I am about as mainstream as you can get in this country.  I
was trying to point out to you how similar in attitude you are to Moral
Majority with reference to your remark about "implicit" threats.