VERN HUMPHREY wrote in a message to ROY J. TELLASON:

RJT>I have twice seen the same film clip on CBS news: an Iraqi citizen
RJT>buying what looks like a machine gun (Kalashnikov), and another 
RJT>citizen trying out a se
RJT>automatic pistol's slide action.  Both times, the voice-over
RJT>warned of Iraq
RJT>preparing to defend themselves.

RJT>Nobody mentions the obvious: unless the film clip was staged,
RJT>Saddam Hussei
RJT>lets Iraqis buy guns and ammo.

RJT>This testifies against the theory that Saddam fears an organized
RJT>uprising.
RJT>he fears assassination -- his supposed use of look-alikes in public -- he
RJT>doesn't fear it enough to impose complete gun control.

VH> Did they tell you who the people buying the guns ARE?

Of course not.  Those who do such filming are never gonna give out all the
gory details,  they're trying to create an impression here -- one invoving
a lot of body bags heading this way...

VH> Are they Kurds?  Are they Marsh Arabs?

VH> Or are they members of Saddam's own clan?

Heh.

VH> Remember, in Northern Ireland, possession of a firearm was 
VH> punishable by serious prison time -- A group of boys riding in a 
VH> car were all sent to prison when an unloaded .22 pistol was found 
VH> in the car -- and it wasn't necessary to prove they knew it was 
VH> there.

I hadn't heard about that,  but it's no surprise.  And yet you still hear
talk about them "settling" things there by "having the IRA
give up their guns"!

VH> (One of the boys was Bobby Sands, who after 14 years in prison for
VH> that offense, led the hunger strike of 1980-81.)

VH> At the same time, the B-Specials, a civilian group affliated with
VH> the police and numbering a hundred thousand or so men, were ISSUED
VH> firearms. Many of these men moonlighted as Unionist terrorists, of
VH> course.

Nothing biased in that situation,  is there?

RJT>He claims that he has no weapons of mass destruction. In a recent article
RJT>posted on the generally hawkish World Net Daily, physicist Gordon
RJT>Prather c
RJT>long-suppressed evidence from a top Iraqi defector that there are
RJT>no WMD in
RJT>Iraq.  The defector was General Hussein Kamal.  He was Saddam Hussein's
RJT>son-in-law.  He was assassinated when he later returned to Iraq.

VH> There is no nerve gas in Iraq?  The inspectors have found some!! 
VH> They have found the warheads it would be loaded in.  They have
VH> found missiles to carry it to other nations?

Seems to me I recall some mention recently of a site out there in the
desert, where the image conveyed sure wasn't enough to indicate *anything*
conclusive, unless you really took a forensics approach to it,  but yet
that's not where the burden in this situation lies...

I don't believe that the average citizen there can easily walk in and buy
the type of firearms they're talking about,  not for a minute!

Got another thing that hit the news here yesterday,  somewhat more local in
scope,  and this one's a real hoot.

It seems that there are some state workers that aren't real happy.  They
get hassled on the job,  they get threatened in the parking lot,  and they
even (in at least one case) get calls at home.  But in at least one
instance,  that of the state's "Department of Environmental
Protection",  they're not allowed to do anything about it.  Not only
can't they carry at work,  they can't bring it along and leave it in the
car,  and if they're overnighting somewhere, headed for a motel in their
own vehicle,  but on state business,  they can't carry then,  either.  This
all assumes a carry permit here,  of course.  You do that, you get fired. 
This also applies even when the worker is way out in the middle of nowhere,
 and might have bears and other wild animals to contend with.

The policy came about as an outgrowth of a "safety in the
workplace" executive order that was signed by,  of all people,  Tom
Ridge.  Yeah,  _THAT_ Tom Ridge. Who I knew of as a gun grabber from his
record in the house before he ever got elected governor,  and I voted
against him both times he ran.

Now it seems like this state representative from Crawford County,  wherever
that is,  along with 23 co-sponsors,  have introduced a bill that would
allow those with permits to carry on the job.  The newspaper article was
entitled "Packing Heat?",  and showed a picture of somebody, 
face not shown,  but the holster at their hip quite apparent.  The
exception to this would of course be the state Capitol building,  where as
it turns out I was carrying when I was last in there,  but that was before
9-11.  They also want these folks to be able to carry on their way to and
from work,  which is currently a no-no.

Elitist assholes!

What about the rest of us?  Don't we also deserve to have our right to
self-defense spelled out,  in the law,  so that misguided employers won't
try to inhibit that right being exercised?

The PA constitution spells it out pretty simply:

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania guarantees your right to
bear arms in Article 1 Section 21: "The right of Citizens to bear arms in
defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned."

I guess that's too complicated for some,  the same way "shall not be
infringed" is,  for some other folks...   :-(

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