Text 12344, 62 rader
Skriven 2005-09-19 23:51:54 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
  Kommentar till text 12327 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Cell phone cost
=======================
 MV> Hello Raymond,

 MV>>> I didn't see much of the New Orleans disaster as I was on
 MV>>> holiday. But I did see a few shots on German television. One
 MV>>> image is burned into my retina: that of soldiers entering houses
 MV>>> with assault rifles at the ready! It looked more like an
 MV>>> invasion than a rescue mission....

 >> When the "rescuees" are shooting, what is one to do?

 MV> Why were they shooting in the first place? And with what?

Who knows the motivations of gangters and thugs, for that's what they seem to
be..

It's a product of the deification of the gangster culture, that's seems
certain.

 MV> One report I heard is that looters lifted all the handguns from
 MV> Sears.

And Wal-Mart, both have sporting goods departments. Probably pawn shops, all
the traditional stores where guns are available Not just handguns, but
rifles and shotguns as well.

Mush less reoprted (as it does not suit the national agenda) are the people
that protected their homes with guns of their own. Several cases of this made
the news, but were far outweighed by the reports of riot and looting.

There are websites, that cull local papers (where reoprts of this nature
are much more likely to be seen) for these examples, which at least makes for
a national, but untraditional, venue.

 MV> My first thought was: that could not have happened if those weapons
 MV> were not there to begin with. Over here you can not buy guns in a
 MV> supermarket. It is extremely difficult to legally buy a gun anywhere.

However, for good or ill, they are here, and in significant numbers. Many of
the guns I expect were already in the possession of the criminal element
before the flood, and were purchased illegally. There's quite a business in
that as it happens. No criminal checks, no waiting period or other
government red tape, just hook up with the local gunrunner, and you're all
set... I would not be surprised that the same system exists in Europe ( I know
it does) but it's probably a lot less common.

 MV> An armed society is a polite society? Didn't look that way...

A true armed society is. I lived for a time in Eastern Kentucky, where
everyone had the ability to be legally armed. It had a low crime rate and
people were pointedly polite. What differentiates here is that NO was (and is)
on the verge of lawlessness in the first place,as it has had the reputation of
being one of the most corrupt cities in the nation, even including NYC and
Chicago. That rot extends into the Police department (perenially under federal
examination for graft and fraud) and into the political system (millions of
federal grant dollars that vanished into thin air with no reciepts)

 MV> Cheers, Michiel

Hope you had a good vacation, and welcome back !

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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)