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From: josh@topaz.ARPA (J Storrs Hall)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Handgun control (again)
Message-ID: <2615@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 9-Jul-85 01:22:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2615
Posted: Tue Jul  9 01:22:57 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jul-85 04:54:39 EDT
References: <484@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <> <493@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP>
Reply-To: josh@topaz.UUCP (J Storrs Hall)
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 36

In article <292@mit-vax.UUCP> csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) writes:
>Handgun shipments into the US are legal. So is domestic production. They
>could both be shut down sufficiently. Dope doesn't show up on X-rays.
>Guns do. Hashish doesn't trigger metal detectors. Guns do. Marajauna
>growers need a plot of dirt. Gunsmiths need precision tools. Putting the
>gun trade to a standstill is not a pipe dream for bleeding heart
>liberals. Tell me, if they can smuggle Levi's into Russia, how come
>they don't smuggle handguns, too?
>Charles Forsythe

I was surprised that 150 messages later than this in net.politics, no one
had taken issue with this manifesto of flagrant ignorance.  

a) the use of guns (specifically handguns) in crime is a tiny percentage
  (~0.01%) of all handgun use in the US.  The current black market is
  many times the volume needed to support criminal use.

b) it is impossible to interdict the flow of small arms at any border 
  across which there is any considerable traffic of private automobiles.

c) a short, concealable weapon, quite suitable for holdups and murder,
  can be constructed from either rifle or shotgun in a few minutes
  with a hacksaw.  

d) consider that that there is in fact a model of the proposed prohibition,
  nationwide, namely that of submachine guns, since the 1930's.  Nevertheless
  the  current murder rate with them exceeds that of the '20s when they 
  were legal and the hallmark of gang warfare.  

e) All the above aside, it is quite feasible for anyone who can fix a car
  to make a respectable autopistol in a common machine shop in a day,
  or in the basement in a week, using materials found in any hardware store.
  A zip gun, useless for defense but just the thing for murder, can be
  made by a technological illiterate like Mr. Forsythe in an hour.

--JoSH