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From: c160-as@zooey.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP
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Subject: Re: Replying to Gun Nuts Propaganda (was COMPUTER USER...)
Message-ID: <4335@zen.berkeley.edu>
Date: Tue, 13-Oct-87 21:43:13 EDT
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Posted: Tue Oct 13 21:43:13 1987
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All this discussion about gun control has raised a few questions in my mind:

	Would a ban on handguns limit their availability to those who use them
the most to kill?
	Would the number of handgun related deaths increase or decrease as the 
result of a handgun ban?  In the United States as well?
	Would a ban on handguns tend to increase or decrease the number of violent
crimes committed in the United States?
	Is the amount of fear mitigated by being able to own a handgun worth the 
potential harm that can be caused by one?
(In the case of the automobile, society as a whole has decided that the
convenience provided by a car outweighs the "amount of harm" that it has caused)
	Does a handgun actually protect?  Will it actually prevent one from being
mugged, raped, and robbed or will it just make one feel *confident* that they
will be able to escape from any of the above unscaythed?

I see these questions as central to the handgun ban issue and until both sides
can agree on any of these questions I don't see much headway being made. :-)


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gsnyder@cory.Berkeley.Edu   / Bring football back to Oakland!
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