Billy D'Augustine wrote:
> This is inane. A gun has a single purpose for existance - and that is to
> take away the life of someone or something.
This will certainly come as news to the practical pistol, sporting clay and
skeet crowds.
A firearm is also an effective deterrent. In the US we have no individual
right to be protected by the police; if they fail to respond in time to
save your life the failure to perform is not actionable in court. This
is generally of little consequence to someone living around the corner
from the cop shop, but for those of us with 20+ minute response times
it might be an issue.
And in my case it was. I've been through the home invasion experience,
thank you very much, and as far as we -- and the cops -- are concerned
the only reason that we're alive is because when the leader of the
group raised his handy-dandy baseball bat over his head with the
intent to crush mine I rolled over and stuck a 1076 under his chin.
> One doesn't hammer a nail with a
> gun, nor does one rake leaves with a gun.
I don't recall anyone asserting that either of these were the case; rather
the
point was being made that humans are (a) fragile (b) very, very good at
killing
each other and (c) that as a consequence demonizing one of literally
thousands of
items that can be used as effective weapons was silly. What you need to do
is
figure out why people consider homicide a reasonable act and do something
about
_that_.
> What purpose of an AK-47?
The designer clearly intended it to kill people. Your point?
> One doesn't go deer hunting with a 9mm.
I'll be sure to tell a colleague of mine. He's a formal verification
nut; he's also a handgun hunter who shoots .38, 9mm, 12mm, and .455,
and has at times hunted everything from deer to boar. The reason
one generally uses long guns is because short-barrel accuracy over
distance sucks, and _most_ handgun rounds have aerodynamic limitations
(I say _most_ because he's also sporting a handgun in 7.62x39).
> Call me what you will.
How does "clueless, irrational nitwit who has never once found their life in
danger from violence" strike you? When you've had your life placed in
danger,
have access to a firearm and choose not to use -- or threaten to use -- it
you're welcome to describe this as "inane". Until then you're working
in a vacuum. I was raised in the city and never thought once about owning
a firearm. It wasn't until I moved to rural California as was advised by
the sheriff's department of off-hours response times that I took an
interest --
and I'm glad I did.
--
Chris Kennedy
chris_at_mainecoon.com
http://www.mainecoon.com
PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97
Received on Sun May 06 2001 - 15:07:21 BST