More fodder for debate. Besides I couldn't stand seeing this thread languish at 99....
Subject: Guns: comment by Paul Harvey.
>
> Are you considering backing gun control laws? Do you think that because
> you may not own a gun, the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment
> don't matter?
>
> CONSIDER THIS...In 1929 the Soviet Union established gun control. From
> 1929 to 1953, approximately 20 million dissidents, unable to defend
> themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
>
> In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915-1917, 1.5 million
> Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up
> and exterminated.
>
> Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, 13
> million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and others, who were
> unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
>
> China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million
> political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
> exterminated.
>
> Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000
> Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
> exterminated.
>
> Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000
> Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
> exterminated.
>
> Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one
> million "educated" people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up
and
> exterminated.
>
> That places total victims who lost their lives because of gun control at
> approximately 56 million in the last century.
>
> Since we should learn from the mistakes of history, the next time
> someone talks in favor of Gun control, find out which group of citizens
they
> wish to have exterminated.
>
> It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced to
> surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed, a program costing
> the government more than $500 million dollars. The results Australia-wide:
> Homicides are up 3.2%; Assaults are up 8%; and Armed robberies are up
> 44%.
>
> In that country's state of Victoria, homicides with firearms are up
> 300%. Over the previous 25 years, figures were showing a steady decrease
in
> armed robberies and Australian politicians are on the spot and at a
> loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after
such
> a monumental effort and expense was expended in "ridding society of guns."
>
> It's time to state it plainly; Guns in the hands of honest citizens
> save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws only affect the
> law-abiding
> citizens.
>
> OPINION: Paul Harvey on Guns
>
> Paul Harvey's comment on the Columbine High School shootings:
>
> How can we blame it all on guns? For the life of me, I can'tunderstand
> what could have gone wrong in Littleton, CO.
> If only the parents had kept their children away from the guns, we
> wouldn't have had such a tragedy. Yeah, it must have been the guns.
>
> It couldn't have been because half our children are being raised in
> broken homes.
>
> It couldn't have been because our children get to spend an average of
> 30 seconds in meaningful conversation with their parents each day. After
> all, we give our children quality time.
>
> It couldn't have been because we treat our children as pets and our
> pets as children.
>
> It couldn't have been because we place our children in day care centers
> where they learn their socialization skills among their peers under the
> law of the jungle while employees who have no vested interest in the
> children look on and make sure that no blood is spilled.
>
> It couldn't have been because we allow our children to watch, on the
> average, seven hours of television a day of sex and violence that isn't
> fit for adult consumption.
>
> It couldn't have been because we allow our children to enter into
> virtual worlds in which, to win the game, one must kill as many opponents
as
> possible in the most sadistic way possible.
>
> It couldn't have been because we have sterilized and contracepted our
> families down to sizes so small that the children we do have are so
> spoiled with material things that they come to equate the receiving of
> the material with love.
>
> It couldn't have been because our children, who historically have been
> seen as a blessing from God, are now being viewed as either a mistake
> created when contraception fails or inconveniences that parents try to
> raise in their spare time.
>
> It couldn't have been because we give two-year prison sentences to
> teenagers who kill their newborns.
>
> It couldn't have been because our school systems teach the children
> that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of
> some primordial soup of mud by teaching them evolution as fact and by
> handing out condoms as if they were candy.
>
> It couldn't have been because we teach our children that there are no
> laws of morality that transcend us, that everything is relative and
> that actions don't have consequences.
>
> What the heck, the President gets away with it............. Nah, it
> must have been the guns.
>
> Paul Harvey
>
>
EDIT: And for the argument
not my government consider Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Pulitzer Prize winning photo of the INS agent pointing his MP5 at Ellian Gonzales......
[ 05-18-2001: Message edited by: Anatres ]
EDIT2: please remember that the
government that I refer to is the US type......
[ 05-18-2001: Message edited by: Anatres ]