Re: Guns'n stuff

James J Rovira (jrovira@juno.com)
Wed, 05 May 1999 20:02:35 -0400 (EDT)

Sean -- 

First off, I'm not a "gun fan."  I don't own any guns, am not a member of
the NRA, etc.  I'm just worried about the advocacy of a redistribution of
one type of power completely into the hands of the government.

But, you did make an interesting reply to my comment.  I think it's
flawed in that it treats three different things as one.  

In the case of in-home shootings, that is a case of "not being aware of
the responsibility and the dangers."  I think a family in which there was
some training in the proper handling and use of guns would have far fewer
chances of having someone accidentally shoot themselves.  I'd bet that in
Switzerland, which, it seems, does pretty much have a gun in every home,
there are far fewer incidents of accidental shootings because all those
who own them are trained.

In the case of Columbine, that has little to do with gun control as it
exists at present.  I believe that numerous existing gun laws were broken
by the mere fact of the possession by minors of these types of firearms. 
And I'd bet some of the weapons used were illegal to own by any person
anywhere in this country.  The questions you should be asking are:

1. Why aren't the current laws being enforced, what is the hold-up here?
(so to speak).

2. If we can't enforce the current laws, how would we enforce stricter
laws?

If all you want to do is remove guns from society at large, what you'd
wind up doing is just taking away the guns held by registered owners (who
are less likely to commit crimes) and leaving them in the possession of
those who already own them illegally.  
Tell ya what.  Let's round up every illegally held gun right now, dole
out appropriate punishments, THEN see if stricter laws are needed.

Jim   

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