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From: josh@topaz.ARPA (J Storrs Hall)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: response to Gun Control advocates
Message-ID: <132@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 17:57:15 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.132
Posted: Thu Jan  3 17:57:15 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 7-Jan-85 02:20:46 EST
References: <> <261@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 43

> "/Jeff" writes:
>      I don't know who "they" are here, but as a strong advocate of handgun
> control, I am not in favor of the banning of rifles.  The reason is that
> rifles have a legitimate hunting and sporting value, while most handguns are
> designed for precisely one thing:  killing people.

This is an open admission of considerable ignorance.  I know several people
who own pistols and have used them a bit myself.  No one I know has ever 
used one to kill anyone-- I sure haven't.  The primary use pistols are
put to is target shooting, a sport in itself just like dart throwing.
Another fairly common use of pistols is hunting.  Pistol hunting varies
from rifle hunting in that you need to use more tracking and stealth,
and you are more able to do that because you aren't lugging that bulky
rifle along.
Even if you did not know this, however, you see men openly using pistols
every day--the police!  They do not, as you seem to believe, carry them
with the intention of killing people.  They are used for the purposes
of self-defense, the defense of other citizens, which is the cop's 
raison d'etre, and for the intimidation of armed criminals.  Cops rarely
shoot first (especially in theory).

>     What is this "right" nonsense?  The government has the right to ban
> handgun ownership.  Period.  Look up the five Supreme Court decisions.

The "5 Supreme Court Decisions" are an awfully wobbly reed to lean on.
Read the Senate Justice subcommittee's report on the subject.  Since
the second amendment explicitly refers to the "right", you are showing
your prejudices a bit by calling it nonsense.

>      A handgun is a small, easily concealable, deadly weapon whose only
> purpose is to kill people.  They should be controlled or banned.

Some handguns are easily concealable--detective snubbies and women's
pocketbook '25s, for example.  However, the very fact that these are
not standard guns, helps to point out the fact that that is not the
purpose of most pistols.  The distinguishing characteristic of a
standard handgun like a '38 special (as worn by most police) or a
'45 (the standard military sidearm) is that they are easy to *carry*.
They are usually worn in a holster and are anything but hidden.
You (/Jeff) are merely repeating a lot of conventional wisdom
without any real knowlege of the subject.

--JoSH