From: zeleny@husc9.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.french,talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Guns, and the necessity to trust our governement
Keywords: guns and surrealism
Date: 20 Aug 92 00:23:04 GMT
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal

In article <1992Aug19.165456.10112@greco-prog.fr> 
pelegrin@brol.greco-prog.fr (Francois PELLEGRINI) writes:

>In article <1992Aug19.132937.2731@greco-prog.fr>, 
>goudal@labri.greco-prog.fr (Frederic GOUDAL) writes:

>>In article <1992Aug18.194737.14869@husc3.harvard.edu>,
>>zeleny@husc9.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny) writes:

MZ:
>>As a matter of fact, I own no hunting rifles, since I no longer have the
>>time to hunt.  Now let us perform a thought experiment.  I live in a city
>>whose layout is intimately known to me.  Suppose a coup comes; I pick up my
>>SIG AMT .308, with 4 extra magazines (100 rounds total), which allows me to
>>hit a dinner plate-sized target at 600 meters with open sights, offhand.
>>On my person I can easily carry another 100 rounds and a telescopic sight,
>>which increases my effective range to 1000 meters, plus a 9mm P210 with 150
>>rounds of pistol ammunition, plus camping supplies sufficient for several
>>days.  Now think about the number of tank commanders I can take out before
>>my luck runs out; then multiply this number by your estimate of the total
>>number of like-minded individuals.  Consider Vietnam, Lebanon, Northern
>>Ireland, Afghanistan, and other similar cases before you answer.

FP:
>	Well-well-well...
>
>	It has been asked before why Mr. Zeleny wanted to bring weapons with him;
>as such manners were against individual liberty, he did not reply, and that was
>his right.

On the contrary, I did reply.  On the chance that you are incapable of
understanding figurative speech, I'll rephrase my answer in a more
elementary idiom: I own and carry guns, where allowed by the local law, for
the purpose of protecting lives of myself and others.

FP:
>	But after reading such a text (tacatac-I'm the best sharpshooter-ping-
>you're dead-haha-Gotcha!), I wonder about his real motivations. I can see two
>explanations:
>- Having relations in the croatian border, he wants to ship cars and guns to
> Croatia. Good idea, but then he should try going to Italia first, and buy
> weapons there.
> By the way, I have not been confronted to a real battlefield, but I am sure
> that it does not look like the mathematical concept he describes.
> Remember, Mr Sharpshooter, that with a telescopic sight your perception is
> VERY limited, and that the enemy also has snipers...
>- Having heard that our truck drivers were supported by the communist party,
> he wants to play Rambo in a foreign country, as he is allowed to by
> the brand-new U.S. law (A-me-ri-ca !! A-me-ri-ca !!!!!).

Observe that the above paragraph was offered as a thought experiment in
response to a claim of utter ineffectiveness of civilian resistance to
military forces, rather than as a description of my motivation.  Also go
back and re-read the disclaimer concerning my attitude towards the French
law, on which I so far have been utterly unable to receive any substantive
first-hand information.  Finally, I note my strong personal disagreement
with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling legitimizing American police
action on foreign grounds, as well as with your implicit presumption that a
national of a particular country must ipso facto approve of its foreign or
domestic policies.

FP:
>	Good trip, Mr. Zeleny, and send us postcards, please!!!

I'll do much better than that: the first kind soul who will furnish me with
the exact details of the French firearms legislation, which I humbly
requested in my original article, will receive a token payment of U.S. $1,
artfully autographed by yours truly.  The money may not amount to much, but
the autograph is guaranteed to grow in value indefinitely.  All duties and
taxes must be paid by the recipient.

>				f.p.
>
>-- 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>   Zeu<FP>: The craziest programmer in France           _________          
>------------------------------------------------     /           \   \     
> Francois Pellegrini is :                           /    __   ___/    \    
>        pelegrin@geocub.greco-prog.fr               \                /    
>         pelegrin@prof.greco-prog.fr                 \              /     
>                                                                            
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
"Un de mes plus grands plaisirs est de jurer Dieu quand je bande."
Newsgroups: soc.culture.french