The fourth e-mail I received in response to the gun issue! How's this for an interesting take on the gun issue?!

[Gets up on soapbox] (Ahem)

Remember that 6 year old boy in Michigan who plugged his classmate, a young girl, and killed her?

Although we could spend hours in fascinating and relevant discourse on the boy's background, his psychology, and the true darkness of human nature, I'd just like to point out one simple thing:

If the kid hadn't had a gun, it would have been much harder for him to kill the little girl. He could have beaten her with his hands and feet. He could have tripped her. He could have ripped out her hair. He could have twisted her arm and broken it. He could have punted her in the crotch. However, it would be very, very unlikely that he would have had enough time to beat her to death before the fight would have been broken up, in that they were standing in public when the attack occurred. Even if she had been seriously injured by such an assault, it would have been much easier to save her life in the hospital....much easier than it was after she had been shot in the throat.

The "right to bear arms" is something that is oft trumpeted by gun nuts from the South in America....but guns, and the tragedy that accompanies them, are things that they should be more careful about inflicting on the rest of us in the US.

"But what about fighting government oppression?", they ask. Well, think about it this way....no matter what slimy bastards there are in Washington, it makes economic sense for them *not* to oppress people. If they were to suddenly become a dictatorship, and kill the economy in the process, they wouldn't keep getting all of their secret funding from prosperous US industry anymore (like how Phillip Morris pays off Jesse Helms). It's not government oppression I'd worry about....I'd be more scared of the fanatical lobbying of the Christian Conservatives (the "Jesus freaks") and their friends the gun nuts, who want to take away our freedom of expression and speech.

"But what about self defense?", they ask once again. Sure, we have a right to defend ourselves. Which is why we should get rid of guns...it becomes much easier to defend yourself when the guy assaulting you dosen't have a gun.

Also, carrying a gun will really undermine your ability to avoid violent situations, or deal with the kinds of attacks you will realistically be subjected to on the street. Before you dismiss this thought, please know that it came from a good friend of mine who spent half a decade in the Marines, studied many martial arts, who knows perfectly well how to most efficiently use all kinds of guns, and is familiar from first hand experience with the realities of violent street confrontations.

Whenever you carry a weapon, that weapon being there will gradually become part of your subconscious awareness of yourself. When you feel threatened, you are more likely to pull that weapon immediately, even when it may not be necessary. For example, suppose you are accosted by a drunk who threatens you with a knife. You may be able to talk your way out of such a situation, and avoid a risky physical confrontation. However, many people who carry a weapons will pull their weapon immediately, without trying to talk. Without needing to, these people have escalated the situation towards a violent outcome, in which they could be seriously injured, crippled, or killed.

Also, think about it this way. Even if you carry around a Desert Eagle, one of the biggest handguns on the face of the planet, you'll still be helpless if someone creeps up behind you and puts you in a chokehold. If you try to pull the gun, your attacker will simply crouch rapidly, and snap your neck. What would have helped you more than all the handguns in the world would have been some knowledge of martial arts or a special forces fighting system, which would have given you a chance of escaping from the chokehold. Similarly, if a man walks up to you and points a gun at your face, are you going to reach into your pocket and pull your gun on him? As soon as he sees you reach into your pocket, he'll probably get scared and blow a hole through your brain. Simply posessing a gun, without knowledge of hand to hand combat tactics, gives you a dangerous false confidence.

"But, if you regulate guns, only criminals will have them!!" For a while, maybe. But, if you make gun owning a bigass felony, and have it so that cops can hose you down on sight if you own guns, the amount of guns in the country in civilian hands will decrease pretty rapidly. And it's not like criminals owning guns is the only way they can kill you. It's just as easy for a man to creep up behind you and stick an Army knife between your ribs, piercing your lung and leaving you to die in agonized silence. Don't forget...men in prison basically have nothing to do all day, other than try to protect themselves from bullying and rape attempts. So, they usually do a lot of exercise at the prison exercise facilities, and they get extremely strong. When they get out of prision, they typically are as sturdy as any Marine, and they will have had a lot of practice in jail-cell fighting.

Don't think they need a gun to kill you.

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