On Thu, 2007-02-08 at 09:16 -0500, Gene Heskett wrote: > On Wednesday 07 February 2007 23:45, Tim wrote: > > [...] > >Anne Wilson: > >> Can't help but feel that guns don't kill anyone - it's the person > >> behind the gun that kills. > > > >I've always felt that mantra to be rather fatuous. > > I guess that's because you automaticly associate gun=evil. > However, I don't believe that a gun has ever in recorded history, jumped > up from where ever it might be and killed someone, and did it without > human, or in the very rare case, accidental animal assistance. > > My point is: It takes human assistance to cause it to be properly aimed, > and it takes human assistance to pull the trigger. That is precisely why > we prosecute the person who was in physical possession of the gun when > one is involved in a crime. Using a gun to aid the commission of a > crime, because it represents the ultimate force, is a separate charge > often carrying more consequences than the crime itself, and should be > separately prosecuted. > > To automaticly equate someone in possession of a gun with evil doing > paints a very bleak picture in my mind. I own several, used far more > often for punching holes in paper at long range, but occasionally for > putting a bit of meat on the table. There is also a CCW permit in my > billfold in case someone wants to 'borrow' my money or vehicle or invade > my home without my permission (or the proper warrants). But I don't > think I'm any more 'evil' than the average person who's made it to 72 > years. ---- she used guns as a metaphor, not an invitation to discuss the virtues of gun control or what measures you use to protect yourself. If the metaphor wasn't appropriate, you could simply say it isn't appropriate instead of a instigating a tangential discourse which is entirely off topic. Craig
