From: dodd@OES.ORST.EDU (Stirling S. Dodd)
Newsgroups: talk.rape
Subject: Re: handguns (?)
Date: 20 Aug 92 13:22:26 GMT
Organization: Applied Research Laboratories, Austin, Texas


    There have been a lot of good and pertainent (sp?) points made on this
thread concerning the use of handguns. I believe a few have been left out.

Guns are expensive, bulky and generally dangerous (duh... no really), finally
guns have a nasty habit of killing people who are not the intended target.

Guns generally run from one (small twenty-two's) to several hundred dollars, not
counting training, ammunition, etc...

A woman with a handbag may conceal one, but it then becomes difficult to
obtain in a hurry (sorry Mr. Rapist, but my gun seems to be stuck...:->).
I know how long it takes my wife to find her glasses in her purse, and I
have often spent several minutes trying to dig a calculator out of a book bag.
Besides, it is preferential to use the gun as a deterent, like police officers.
A gun in a bag presents no threat until it is pulled out. A holstered gun that 
is visible would be much more effective. Great so now we have women wearing 
spandex and sidearms... sorry.
The point is, the military learned long ago that a big visible gun was far more
effective than a concealed weapon. People must know it is there for it to be a 
deterent. The intension of self defense, and this is always the first concern,
is to stop the attack before it happens. Also, a gun escalates violence.
A person might be tempted to use their gun before truly looking at all other
options. People are very resourceful when forced into action.

Many women are mothers (obviously all mothers are women...). Do they want to 
keep loaded guns around their children? How many times have you heard about
experienced hunters, people who grew up around guns all their lives, being
killed while cleaning their guns, etc... It is best not to keep them around.
I have a twenty-two rifle I use for killing those nasty aluminum cans that 
keep multiplying in my kitchen, but I keep it unloaded, wrapped up, and
stored in a closet that my son can't access (he's only 11mos so it is safe).
Do you really want to spend so much time worrying about what your gun is doing
when you're not around?

Guns in a nervous situation have often kill innocent people. I remember the 
story of a cop I think in Dallas shooting a black store owner on a robbery call.The victim calls the police to report being robbed, then goes himself to the
scene. He finds that the robbers are gone, and goes in. The police arrive,
see a black man, and bang he's dead. What about the drive by shootings...
How many children die because a car drives by to kill jimmy, and jenny is in
the background? There are enough guns in our cities killing people. A women
protecting herself does not have the right to shoot indiscrimently in a 
crowded urban area. She had better be able to make fast decisions and shoot 
straight. Besides a shot of mace into an innocent person can be apologized for
then and there, a killer will spend their lives apologizing.

The only situation where I would want a gun would be if I were in my house
and someone entered with a gun, and then it would be a shotgun. On the street
you had best be able to talk and run fast, and watch your back...
I'm 6'5", 210# and I watch my back anywhere anytime. Not that I'm nervous, 
but I know my surroundings.

Comments?
-- 
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S Dod^2  |   "Do what you do but know why you're doing it"---GBH
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