From: kurt@eskimo.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
Subject: Re: Travelling armed
Keywords: Guns laws crime murder waiting periods 
Organization: >>> Eskimo North (206)-FOR-EVER <<<
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 17:09:38 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.160346.29763@apex.com> chuckh@apex.com (Chuck Huffington) writes:
>In article <1992Jul27.043429.15821@eskimo.celestial.com> kurt@eskimo.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum) writes:
>>OK, WODDers, what's wrong with these arguments?  [...]
[...]
>Do you really believe that the people making the huge profits selling illegal
>drugs will just go away?  If the government is selling legal drugs
>I would expect the gangs to sell something "better".  You don't want that
>govt shit, this stuffs a lot better.

Yes, I expect that 99% of them will go away, because they are after *easy*
*money* or looking to get rich quick.  What makes you think I'm advocating
that the government get into the business of selling drugs?  You know the
government botches everything it touches.  Of *course* "this stuffs a lot
better".  So what?  If you think the gov't can do better selling placebos,
then let's go ahead and legalize prayer in schools! :)

As far as "gang" goes, that's just a pejorative name for a group of people
you don't like, cf. "gang of 4".

[...]
>Mandatory firearms instruction in the schools is a great idea.
>Try to implement it.

Jeez, aren't there PTA folks that can do that?
Sorry, I already have a life.  If I had kids I'd homeschool them.
There was a school levy last election where I live, in the South End.
The Seattle School district is now pissing away that levy money on
litigation with the ACLU, who is defending the free speech rights of
Ken Kearney, an Evergreen HS student who published an underground paper
that incurred the wrath of the authorities.  I hope they lose in a big
way.  They could have used that money to implement the firearms course.

>If the true pupose of waiting periods is a background check, why
>didn't the Brady Bill mandate background checks.  It didn't.
>But it did allow a police chief to ash-can forms and block purchases
>forever.  Nice hidden agenda.

I don't know.  I only said what *I'd* use the waiting period for.

>>Perhaps the right to bear a handgun might be a matter to be put before the
>>electorate: shall Jo Doaks be permitted to carry concealed handweapons? --
>>where Jo Doaks would "run" (i. e. conduct a campaign, as it were, to convince
>>the populace that they should carry a weapon) for the "privelege".
>>Or it might be an adult rite of passage, a la Heinlein's stories.
>
>Perhaps free speech should be the same.

Sorry, there's a catch-22 in your proposal.  If one's right to free speech
is contingent upon convincing the electorate to grant it, then there's no
legal way for somebody to campaign effectively.

>>Hmmm...You weren't just thinking you could pull up to GunsToGo in your
>>Bigfoot and snarf a pair of AK47's and a case of banana clips, did you?
>
>Why not?  Doesn't matter, Washington doesn't allow full-autos.
>Or did you mean AK47 look-alikes.  You can buy them.

Are you willing to trade me the right to ingest, trade, synthesize, cultivate,
broker, sell, import, export, buy, invest, breed, optimize, and/or explore
drugs of all sorts in return for the right to do the same (pick appropriate
legal-sounding laundry list) with firearms?
-- 
kurt@grogatch.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
Newsgroups: seattle.general