[Fwd: Re: guns and nazis (was: White trash)]

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Wed Nov 17 08:03:42 PST 1999



> Guns in the hands of desperate people are more dangerous
> than guns in hands of people who are content with their lives.

Indeed, and the research shows, so are knives, pills, ropes, razor blades. So, which do you suggest addressing: small numbers of desperate people or large numbers of guns? I think we're still talking about suicide here, but there are other kinds of desperate people who are dangerous with a gun ...

Given that the guns that these other desperate people often get are gotten illegally (stolen or purchased through unlicensed dealers, typically because they wouldn't qualify or because don't want a record of their purchase), aren't we back to some kind of corollary with drugs? The 'legalize drugs' camp says that we should help people who are addicts but otherwise allow responsible drug use.

There are classes of people in the US (mainly felons, which are the most significant group, but there are others) who are legally prohibited from obtaining guns just like most in the US are prohibited from obtaining drugs. So what happens? Illegal trade in guns and drugs flourishes. Most gun crimes are commited by people with illegally gotten guns, most often by those who are legally prohibited from getting guns in the first place.

What does that tell you? It tells me that the problem is not guns, it's criminal behavior, just as with suicide the problem is desperation, not guns.

/jordan



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