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

[Katha Pollitt]

Jordan -- guns are much more likely to be fatal than knives or pills or 
razor blades. Suicide attampts with guns succeed much more often than
attampts with these other methods. It is actually quite hard to kill
yourself with pills and wrist slitting, it takes forever! -- that is one
reason why girls, who make seven times as many suicide attempts as boys,
succeed less often (CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU SAY).  boys  are more likely to
use guns--its over in a second. Girls take pills and get rescued in
time. Suicide is often an impulsive act.Just having a gun in the house
increases your likelhood of suicide many times. You write as if people
are determined to kill themselves and nothing can change their mind --
that's true for some, but especially for young people it can be a
transitory impulse. 

  It is also hard to imagine mass murders in playgrounds, restaurants,
offices getting too far if the perpetrator had to use a knife,let alone
a razor blade or pills! 

  The idea that we should tolerate staggering levels of fatal violence
and serious wounding -- intentional, accidental, single victims and
large groups-- because some day the govt may become tyrannical and then
male citizens of appropriate age can overthrow it is really nuts. Even
if you ignore that fact that what counts as tyranny for those who
espouse this view -- gun control laws, for example -- is the view of a
tiny minority. 

  
Katha