BL> Nobody can ever recall the actual name of that town in Texas
 BL> (can't imagine why). :0

 BG> As with most things American, I have no real interest in them
 BG> (USR modems aside, of course), but there was a doco about this
 BG> place not long ago on TV, and old grannies were sitting on
 BG> their front verandahs, sipping home-made lemonade, and all
 BG> packing fucking great big gun on their hips! 

  The problem with statistics is the size of the sample. I saw last
week in the Sunday Tele that the most unlawful place in Australia is a
one-horse town called Coolabah. For a 686 population there have been
340 reported offences... probably the same drunk, every day, or a
really good speed trap just out of town.

  These statistical anomalies pass into the folklore or are invented
by sesperate jopurnalists.

 BL> Banning cars is a matter of cost/benefit analysis, and consent.
 BL> The reality is that all of us use cars and accept the risk,
 BL> while none of us are willing to accept the risk of the other 5%
 BL> going armed with SLRs. 

 BG> That's not quite true though Bob. When driving alone, I control
 BG> my own risk, but add a few speeding hoons to the equation, and
 BG> the odds of my having an accident fall quite dramatically.

  That's true, and that's why we have so many restrictions on driving
cars; fines, speed cameras and radar and god-knows-wot, but even so 
you accept the cost of 2,000 dead a year as a fair price for the 
benefit of transport mobility.

 BG> Same with guns.

  How is it the same with guns? What benfit to I gain if *you* have a
gun? I am the one running the risk of being shot, but what is my
benefit?

 BG> And how does that correlate with, for example, the 5 kids from
 BG> Robert's school who were walking home from a social one night,
 BG> and were hit by this fucking arsewipe (Lincoln Conquest; I'm
 BG> sure you read about him down there, as he only got 2 years, so
 BG> the DPP is appealing against the leniency of his sentence). One
 BG> girl was killed, and another young fellow is severely
 BG> brain-damaged. 

  The *feeling* is the same for gun owners and car drivers, but your
numbers are out of kilter. 99% of us drive or use cars but only 5% of
us own or use guns. 99% of us are happy to accept the inherent risk in
cars because the small risk is balanced by a large benfit. With guns, 
95% of us get no benefit from allowing the other 5% to go armed. And 
certainly nothing from the 1% who want SLRs. 

 BL> Gun nuts should be grateful they are being allowed to keep
 BL> their pistols, sporting rifles, shotguns, target weapons and
 BL> antiques.

 BG> Is that right? I'm not legally allowed to keep a pistol here at
 BG> all.

  Quite right too. It would be different if you were a legitimate 
sportsman shooting for the Cat Olympics, or a security guard.

Regards,
Bob
    
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
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