I was seven or eight years old the first time I was shot at by a farmer/caretaker. I saw that big old shotgun go up in the air---and then boom. I probably broke the land speed record on my way home. The shooter was kind of a well known nutcase considered harmless by most folks. Even though he was known to carry a pistol in his vegtable basket when he was out huckstering. That's back in the good olde days when discharging rock salt at children was considered normal behavior. I wouldn't advise trying that today.
Jordan, just remember a little screw up with a gun will get you an automatic 5 years in prison.
Your email pal,
Tom L.
Jordan Hayes wrote:
> From TLEHMAN at lor.net Sat May 22 11:17:40 1999
>
> I don't understand why owning a machine-gun is such a big
> thrill for so many people.
>
> Actually, quite few people in the US own machine-guns; maybe you're
> thinking of another kind of gun? "Machine-guns" as coined in the 30's
> refer to fully-automatic weapons. In the mean time, I don't understand
> why owning an SUV is such a big thrill for so many people, but I'm not
> hell-bent on banning them.
>
> One screwy reality about slavery is that the slaves in olde
> south not only owned guns, but, had very easy access to them.
> Every time that slave quarters are dug up by archaeologists
> this reality comes out of the historical closet. A lot of good
> it did them.
>
> One screwey reality about the history of gun control laws in the US and
> pre-US was that they were largely pointed at minorities. Yes,
> disarming slaves (and freemen later!) was a big part of the control
> apparatus and they were the among the first groups to be singled out to
> be disarmed. This continues today with things like public housing gun
> bans (who lives in public housing? It sure isn't "the public"!) and
> 'Saturday Night Special' bans which tend to focus on safety issues (yet
> exempt police officers who, presumably, can handle the unsafe guns?)
> but really are pointed at *inexpensive* guns -- cheap guns are the kind
> used by poor people, of course.
>
> And we know what "poor" means to local city governments.
>
> You can't buy an 'unsafe' $99 .38 revolver in case you'd like to defend
> yourself when your ex-boyfriend drops by (in defiance of the
> restraining order you finally were able to secure with your "public
> defender" -- there's that damn word 'public' again) to beat you
> senseless, but if you're a dentist who has $500, well step right up and
> get your Glock.
>
> The hypocracy boggles the mind; unless you understand it's on purpose.
>
> /jordan