Bob, at 06:07 on May 12 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> OK, it seem that at THIS stage, they only want to completely
BG> ban self-loading and fully-automatic weapons, but surely they
BG> can't mean to include lowly self-loading .22s as well ? That's
BG> completely mad, and a typical knee-jerk if ever I saw one.

BL> The drive-by shooting at Campsie that killed two used a .22
BL> semiauto. The Canberra killing of the Police Commissioner used a .22
BL> Ruger semiauto. The Belangalo backpacker murderer used a .22 Ruger
BL> semiauto... shall I go on?

The Ruger has a 10-shot rotary magazine, and fires a 40g .22 projectile at
an approximate velocity of 1600fps.  My Zs are subsonic, 25g at less than
1000fps.  The SLR has a 20-shot magazine, and the 7.62mm NATO round fires a
220g bullet at 2760fps.  Quite a difference in firepower, wouldn't you say?

BL> Harmless? I don't think so.

Oi, I didn't use that word.  NO gun is harmless, but the .22 IS lowly.

BL> I didn't pay the ones with a collection of child pornography
BL> and no one bought my CB radio or modem. Why are guns different?

BG> Strange as it seems, I happen to agree with you here 100%. Of
BG> course, the fact that I don't _legally_ own any self-loading
BG> weapons might have something to do with my doing so too. 

BL> I don't think buying guns will make a rat's-arse of  difference.

You're absolutely right.

BL> The sane ones will turn in their guns anyway, and the loonies won't.

Quite so.  I strongly suspect that the only people who surrender guns will
be the very ones who are probably sane (or decent) enough to own them.

BL> We could run "dob in a gun owner" like Operation Noah. I'd expect 
BL> that many wives would take the opportunity to get the guns out of the 
BL> house.

True, no argument with that at all.

BG> Frankly, I think that everybody should wait six months, or at
BG> least until the emotive aspect of this issue has abated.
BG> Fucking knee-jerk politicians... 

BL> Yair - that's the gun-lobby line.

It's my line too, and I'm neither anti nor pro (although I'd flatly refuse
to hand in my miserable 5-shot bolt-action .22 if the law said I had to).

BL> I see that John Major is talking about the same ban as Australia. At last 
BL> there is some sanity in the world. The plain fact remains that there is 
BL> absoutely no need for an SLR except by the Army and SWAT squads. 

Or, under certain circumstances, civilians in remote areas, and land-owners.

BL> At last we are getting rid of the gun mentality. We need the American gun 
BL> culture like we need an extra dick.

Dunno, I think I'd be quite partial to an extra dick...

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20