From: jimc@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Jim Cox)
Subject: Re: 2nd Ammendment
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin Tx.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:51:59 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.212600.4101@advtech.uswest.com> kdlin@advtech.uswest.com (David Lin) writes:
>In article <1992Nov9.190533.13920@oakhill.sps.mot.com> jimc@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Jim Cox) writes:
>>...
>>Micheal, you are exactly correct on the concealed carry issue, but carry 
>>in a car is only under strictly defined conditions.  What the Dr. Suzanne
>>Gratia was doing was (and still is) illegal.
>
>What did she do? Sorry that I didn't follow the story carefully.
>Thanks in advance.

Better stated would have been for me to say "what she was _not_ doing", she 
was not carrying her pistol.  I will let her tell you in her own words:

===========================================================================
>From: dbetz@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Drew Betz)
Keyword: Missouri CCW bill, history of 

                 Second Amendment Activists on the Attack:
           An Account of Missouri's Concealed Carry Legislation

Copyright 1992 by Brad Alpert

<<<Introduction Deleted by me. If you want the complete article, I will be>
<<<glad email. It is about 280 lines. -Jim                                >

One of the out-state witnesses had seen both her parents killed by a madman
at Luby's cafeteria in Killeen. The testimony of Dr. Suzanne Gratia spoke
powerfully and movingly to the fatal consequences of gun control; during the
massacre in which 22 victims were killed, she lacked access to her personal
.38 revolver because it was in her car instead of her purse (Texas lacks a
legal concealed carry law).

Dr. Gratia appeared at the hearing in response to an appeal made by myself to
Mr. Neal Knox (considered by many to be the dean of the gun rights movement)
who earlier had promised to help us with our bill. By many accounts, Suzanne
stole the show that day. Excerpts from her testimony - taken from a tape
recording made by WMSA Chuck Wittig - follow:

     "Sitting back there listening to this, I've gotta tell you that it
     just amazes me. My father was an expert ...in the founding of our
     country, and knowing what I know about the Bill of Rights, .. it
     just ...it just ...friggin' amazes me that this even up for
     discussion! Enough said about that. OK."

     "I grew up in a house with no guns, my father was not 'Bubba
     Hunter' uh ...in fact he gave up fishing because he didn't like to
     clean fish ...OK ... When I grew up and moved out on my own I was
     given a gun by a friend, for self protection, ...I was taught how
     to use it and knew how to use it correctly, and I carried it my
     purse. I lived in the country by myself ...OK ..."

     "Somewhere along the line I made one of my stupidest decisions...I
     was afraid that ...if ...somebody caught me with the gun in my
     purse, I could loose my license to practice, loose my ability to
     make a living. So I took the gun out of my purse and I left it in
     my car ...which the laws in my state are kinda wishy-washy on...and
     I thought, 'Heck, if I needed it, it's probably going to be when
     I'm out on the road ...in the middle of nowhere and, you know, my
     car's broke down or something ..."

     "Everybody in here knows, I think, what happened in Luby's .. but,
     in a nutshell ...uh ...ya know, we all think ...and I know you
     do...(indicating a committee member), we all think that crime
     happens when you're walking down a dark alley... I've never been
     involved in any crimes ...that's never happened in my life ... I
     was with my parents ...AT NOON, on a bright sunny day, in Luby's,
     with a hundred and forty other people, OK. In a town that's not a
     high crime town."

     "This guy .... drives through the window .... and starts shooting
     ... This guy has got no history ...nothing." "Well, my father and
     I immediately put the table up in front of us and we all got down
     behind it, and I ...ya know your first opinion is ...is this guy
     robbing this place ...what's the deal ...what's ...what's going on,
     and then you're realizing that all he's doing is simply shooting
     people."

     "As he was working his way toward us, I reached for my purse,
     thinking ...Hah! ...I've got this son of a gun ... OK? Now, under-
     stand, I know what a lot of people think, ...they think, ...'Oh, my
     God, then you would have had a gunfight and then more people would
     have been killed.' Unhunh, no, ...I was down on the floor ...this
     guy is standing up ...everybody else is down on the floor ...I had
     a perfect shot at him ...it would have been clear, I had a place to
     prop my hand ...the guy was not even aware of what we were doing
     ...I'm not saying that I could have saved anybody in there, but I
     would have had a chance ...that's all I'm saying is that I would
     have had a chance ..." "My gun wasn't even in my purse...it was a
     hundred feet away in my car!"

     "My father was saying, 'I gotta do something!, I gotta do some-
     thing! This guy's going to kill everyone in here!' So I wasn't able
     to hold him down and when my father thought he had a chance...he
     went at the guy! The guy turned, shot him in the chest and my dad
     went down."

     "Shortly ...it made the guy change directions and he went off to my
     left. Shortly after that somebody broke out a window in back and I
     saw a chance to get out ...I grabbed my mother and tried to get her
     up ...hoped she was following me ...and I grew wings on my feet. A
     sit turned out, my mother crawled over to my father and stayed with
     him ...and this ...I'm trying to think of a civil word to use...
     this person ...uh ...eventually came around and shot her also...OK"

     "Let me make a point here, in case this isn't becoming extremely
     clear. My state has gun control laws. It did not keep Hennard from
     coming in and killing everybody! What it did do, was keep me from
     protecting my family! That's the only thing that cotton pickin' law
     did! OK! Understand that! That's ...that's so important!"

     "Am I allowed to use a little theatrics ...May I stand up?"
     Chairman replies "Go right ahead."

     "Nobody thinks about this, but just imagine this, because I thought
     of this, I think about this occasionally now, I'm not a paranoid
     person, ...I still live in the country, I ...go about my business
     and have fun. But this has, needless to say, become an issue
     forme."

     "There is zero ...there is no security out there to speak of at
     all. It's a bright sunny day out there ...now ... what if one of
     those guys out there (indicating the hearing room entryway) walked
     in here with a pistol ...an automatic ...and he started blasting.
     Well there's only a couple of doors and let me tell you, you can't
     get out that door that quick before he can mow down a lot of
     people. Now what if he walks over here (toward a committee member
     -a representative from Columbia, MO) and he's got that gun pointed
     right at you? Don't you hope that that lady right there, (pointing
     to another committee member) has a revolver in her purse and know
     show to use it is able to shoot him?" Committeeman replies "No."
     "You don't hope that? You'd rather be dropped dead?" Committeeman:
     "If she tries to shoot him, someone on the other side of me would
     be hit."

     A distinct "I would!" emerges from the audience among many other
     voices until the chairman announces "Excuse me, Ma'am, your point
     has been made, " interrupted by a hearty "I agree with you!" from
     the audience.

Dr. Gratia:

     "That's basically it, let me, ...let me make one last...uh
     ...little bit ...OK ...let's forget that scenario ... You have a
     twenty-one year old daughter ...this will be the last little thing
     I want to say ...she drives to college everyday on back roads...we
     have a lot of those in Texas, I'm sure you have quite a few here
     ...she has some car trouble ...and it's on one of those roads where
     somebody drives by every five minutes ...she is at the mercy of
     whoever happens to drive by next! OK ...now ...'Bubba' drives up
     behind her ...I hope nobody in here is named 'Bubba' ...drives up
     behind her in a pick-up truck ...and he gets out with a baseball
     bat ...a big old knife in his pocket ...gets out with a baseball
     bat and starts bashing her windshield in. Now ...your twenty-one
     year old daughter is your only daughter. Would you like for her to
     have a gun in her car? That's all I have to say ...do you have any
     questions?"

Dr. Gratia words moved several attenders to tears. A ranking House member
rose and said "Dr. Gratia, it will be a long, long time before those of us
who have heard your story will forget you".

<more deleted, again me>

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Jim Cox                            Internet: jimc@bartman.sps.mot.com
Phone: (512) 891-3182          UUCP Address: cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!otis!jimc
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