On 22 Oct 2004 06:46:32 -0700, (TD) wrote:

Roger wrote in message

Bush's fundamentalism, Born again Christian stance scares me

Scares me too.


as does
Kerry's anti-gun, ...stance.

Roger, this confuses me, and many others I am sure both in the US and
especially outside. Why do many americans view anti-gun laws as
frightening? Coming from a place where we have significant gun

Others have given some good answers and some not so good, but here's
my take or impressions at a rational explanation
:
First, I think Jose already gave a good start.

I think part of the philosophy over here stems not just from the
constitution which says "The Right of the People to bear Arms Shall
Not be Infringed", but a very large part of the Country is still
rural. A high percentage of us grew up with firearms and hunting as a
part of our way of life and think of them like any other tool which
can be misused. They are part of our culture and heritage.

Nearly any police officer will tell you that when it comes to some one
breaking in your home they can not get there in time to protect you.
Step one is hide if you can. If you can't then you resort to what
ever force you have available. Many of us have had firearms training
and see gun control as a means of preventing us from protecting our
homes and families, disguised as something that will... well protect
us. History just doesn't support that. Remember one of Hitler's
first acts was gun control in Germany.

I would add that with the freedom comes a very strong responsibility
that most of us take quite seriously.

With pressure of billionaires like George Soros apparently pushing for
the eventual abolishment of the private ownership of firearms many of
us wonder at the reason behind his motives of removing our ability for
self protection. I wonder particularly as it seems in contradiction
to his views of an open society.
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?041018fa_fact3

Even the recent ban in Australia has reportedly resulted in an
increase of violent crime and break ins.


control mechanisms, which in my layman`s view, seems to "work"

The problem here is who is giving the statistics.
For instance in the US in every state where "Right To Carry" laws
have been passed violent crime has gone down. Not just firearms
crimes, but almost all classes of violent crime. Not a lot of people
"carry" but with even a few, the criminal has no idea who's packin"
:-))

We are in some rough financial times, yet violent crime is at its
lowest in I think 30 or 40 years. That should say a lot.

controlling violent crime, why would you favor upholding the 2nd
ammendment instead of supporting gun control, which many if not all
law enforcement agencies recommend strengthening?

I think diligent research and not the national news media would show
the majority, if not the vast majority of law enforcement agencies do
not recommend strengthening gun control. I know a number of law
officers including one who is a neighbor and none are in favor of "gun
control". It would be more correct to say they oppose it. We have
far more laws than necessary on the books now and many are not
enforced. All of the officers I know are frustrated in how fast the
criminals get back on the street.

The highly publicized "Assault Weapons Ban" was strictly a show piece
of legislation that did almost nothing. It banned some firearms based
solely on looks. Many were touting it removing fully automatic
weapons from the streets. It didn't! Those have been illegal for many
years. It did ban large detachable magazines which really did nothing
except to cause manufacturers to stop producing them. That resulted in
our troops being unable to easily obtain extra magazines.

Many unknowing, or those intentionally trying to mislead, rail the
failure of the Assault Weapons Ban to be renewed, but most of the
members of Congress realized it had done nothing to reduce crime as
even the semi-automatic versions of these are seldom used in crime.
They may be ugly, but they are also just too big and obvious.

I can understand some people not liking firearms, or even being afraid
of them, but they are just a tool which is not necessarily a weapon.
A hammer is a tool, but some have been used as weapons. My 12 Ga
shotgun (trap gun) is not a weapon. It has never been used on anything
except clay pigeons. It's long straight stock would be a handicap for
hunting. It is strictly a tool for competitive trap shooting. It's
done right well too. :-))

Although it's not thought of in that light, for many violent crimes
the weapon of choice is probably the automobile. With over 42,000
deaths on the highways last year and many times that many maimed
The cost of the automobile to society is staggering. It runs in the
billions of dollars per year in medical costs and lost productivity on
top of all those deaths. We have no real way to come up with a figure
as to just how many of those deaths were intentional, but one officer
says it has to be substantial. Road Rage, murder, or accident? Only
a tiny percent are not the fault of a driver. Run over some one, or
force some one off the road? You didn't see them and it was just
another accident. Highway deaths are so common, no one even gives
another crash a second thought unless it was someone they knew, or it
was really spectacular.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
Tien