Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site mit-vax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!pesnta!qumix!ittvax!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!mit-vax!csdf From: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Congratulations to the NRA Message-ID: <336@mit-vax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 20:00:16 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-vax.336 Posted: Mon Jul 8 20:00:16 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 11:39:21 EDT References: <481@gargoyle.UUCP> <7800348@inmet.UUCP> Reply-To: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 33 Summary: In article <7800348@inmet.UUCP> nrh@inmet.UUCP writes: >The point of MY original article was that it is not the weapons which >truly cause deaths, but the deadly intentions of the people wielding >those weapons. I presented this idea in satirical form, pointing out >that in a specific handgun-death, one may blame pinkies, the lack of >armor, or some other extraneous cause, but (and I did not explicitly >state this) the real cause of the deaths is deadly human intent. Those >who would outlaw handguns are attacking the symptom, not the disease, >and they are attacking a "symptom" that occurs in the healthy as well >(those who own handguns need not have lethal intent). May I make an analogy of the doctor who give his/her patient a pain killer while deciding how to treat chronic headaches. It is perfectly reasonable to treat a symptom while also treating the cause. To ignore a symptom, knowing that it will go away when the cause is fixed, is cruel to the patient who is, in this case, society. >Charles' later note to the effect that all who are against handgun control >are idiots says more about him than the issue or about handgun control >opponents. Will someone please drag the offending piece of text off a disk and show me how it applies to ALL pro-gun advocates? The comment was directed at an individual who was suggesting we outlaw pinkies to stop crime. It seemed like a reasonable value judgement at the time. A lot of people disagree, I guess I was wrong, by concensus. -- Charles Forsythe CSDF@MIT-VAX "The Church of Fred has yet to come under attack. No one knows about it." -Rev. Wang Zeep