Text 49606, 91 rader
Skriven 2007-04-18 20:31:01 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 49592 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: Shootings
=================
Hello Ross!

On Wednesday April 18 2007 12:35, you wrote to me:

 MV>> Tools can be misused, but killing people with a handgun is not
 MV>> misuse. It it using it for what it was designed for.

 RC> Both offensively as you portray it, or defensively as you refuse to
 RC> see it.

Because it isn't so. The idea that a gun can be used as a defensive weapon is a
fallacy. You can not use a gun as a shield, the only thing you can do with it
is to do unto them before they do it unto thee.

 RC>>> Bad guys are lunatics,

 MV>> Some are and some ar not.

 RC> Anyone fool enough to break the law in such a fashion as to deprive
 RC> another of property, safety and health or life is a lunatic.

You obviously have a different definition of "lunatic" than I have.

 MV>> A bank robber who is merely after the money is not a lunatic.

 RC> Yes they are.

No, they are not. Robbing a bank can be a fully rational decision.

 MV>>  Bank robbers do not kill 32 people and then commit suicide.

 RC> Bank robbers have killed people and a few have committed suicide when
 RC> cornered.

But they do not rob the bank with the objective to kill. That only happens when
things do no go according to plan.

 MV>> That is illogical. Robbing a bank is not illogical in itself. Not all
 MV>> criminals are lunatics.

 RC> They are all lunatics.

No, they are not. People who rob banks can be very rational people who just
choose to take the risks involved in acquiring a lot of money in an illegal
way. It is no more lunatic than a treasurer fiddling with the books.

Mind you I am not defending bank robbers, robbing banks is not right and is
rightly labelled a crime punishable by law, but it is not the act of a lunatic.

 MV>>>> But how do you do that: change the mindset?

 RC>>> http://qsi.cc/blog/archives/000144.html

 MV>> That is not an anser to my question.

 RC> Oh but it does,

It does not answer the question of how to change the mindset.

 RC>  I gather guns arent totally illegal over in your country,

Not totally illegal no. But extremely restrictive.

 RC> but even the legal controls your society places on them isnt
 RC> sufficient to curtail their use for nefarious purposes.

Never said it was 100% effective.

 MV>> other than that: there are lies, dammed lies ans statistics.

 RC> Denial isnt a river in egypt.

Two days ago 32 people were killed by a mentally deranged person with a gun.
That happened in the USA, where every citizen has the constitutional right to
own a gun. It did not happen in the Netherlands where gun ownership is
extremely restricted.

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

 MV>> BTW, why are you making the into an "us versus them" issue again?

 RC> Because you cant prove banning guns is the solution, since the
 RC> criminal mind wont observe those bans.

You can not prove that free guns result in a safer society.


Cheers, Michiel

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