Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!edsel!bentley!hoxna!houxm!ihnp4!gargoyle!shallit From: shallit@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP (Jeff Shallit) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: handgun control Message-ID: <265@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 16:24:57 EST Article-I.D.: gargoyle.265 Posted: Wed Jan 2 16:24:57 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 3-Jan-85 04:43:37 EST References: <> Reply-To: shallit@gargoyle.UUCP (Jeff ) Organization: U. Chicago - Computer Science Lines: 40 Summary: In article <> ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) writes: >To all those people wailing about how many people are killed >by handguns and how much better everything would be if those >guns were illegal: > > What fraction of the handguns used to commit crimes > do you suppose are actually legally held? > >I know the answer for New York City: almost none. It is >virtually impossible to get a handgun permit in New York. >The fellow who shot the four punks on the subway, for instance, >did so with an illegal gun: after he was mugged four years >ago, he applied for a pistol permit but was turned down because >he failed to demonstrate sufficient need for it. > >If enough people want something badly enough, making it illegal >has about as much effect as closing your eyes and pretending >it isn't there. > >If we really want to solve the crime problem, maybe we have to >look a little deeper for the solution. You have listed at least one argument for effective NATIONAL gun control. You can't tell me that if there were strictly enforced registration policies; if illegal transfer of handguns made the seller liable for the buyer's actions; and if it were easy for police departments to request ownership information, that this handgun madness wouldn't decrease significantly. The NRA is agains all these (to me, reasonable) actions. Currently it is becoming more and more difficult to trace ownership of a gun, due in part to Reagan's attempt to dismantle the Handgun Control Act of 1968. Look--you register your car, why not your gun? A handgun's only valid purpose is to kill another person. I want those suckers REGISTERED! /Jeff Shallit