Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 11:28:29 -0700 From: spooner@doitnow.com (Rick Tompkins/Kathy Harrer) Subject: [lpaz-repost] Fw: UNARMED AND UNSAFE To: lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com Cc: ernesthancock@inficad.com
<flushright>> THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 3, 2001
UNARMED AND UNSAFE
>
ntary-200 132141844
By Paul Craig Roberts CREATORS SYNDICATE
The last vestige of civilized Britain has fallen away - the unamed
British "Bobbie." For 170 years, British police functioned without
guns. Sincetheir founding by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, Bobbies walked
their beats armed only with their nightsticks. Until the last few years of
these 17 decades, the British public was armed. Now it is the other way
around. The police have guns, and the law-abiding public doesn't. What
happened?
Britain has the most severe "gun control" laws in the world. Not even
members of the British Olympic Shooting Team are allowed pistols. The
British are reduced to registered single- and double-barreled shotguns,
and the maximum permitted shell load is birdshot.
According to the arguments of gun-control advocates, Britain should be
safe and crime free. But, alas, violent crime and robberies have skyrocketed.
Gunfights between rival immigrant gangs caused the revolution in British
policing. In Robin Hood's Nottinghamshire, constables now patrol in pairs
armed with semi-automatic pistols. They are backed up by armed-response vehicles stocked with submachine guns.
If gun control makes society safe, why was it necessary to overthrow
British police tradition, arm police with semiautomatic weapons and
provide machinegun backup? As a test case in gun control, Britain proves
it to be a total failure. The result is exactly the one predicted by the
National Rifle Association: "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will
have guns." In Britain, a man's home may be his castle where the king of
England cannot enter without a warrant, but robbers and rapists enter at
will. It is easier and less risky for a criminal to have his way with a victim
in the privacy of the victim's home than in public. Gun control has made
home invasion safe for criminals.
In the United States, experts have proven time and again that widespread
gun ownership is a deterrent to crime and prevents between 1 million and
3 million criminal acts each year. Gun ownership saves numerous lives and
foils large numbers of rapes and robberies. Yet, gun controllers persist in
their attempts to disarm the public.
A person can't help but wonder whether gun-control advocates are
uninformed fools or have a secret agenda. Once gun control enters politics,
the lying makes even Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton blush. As the 20th
century came to a close, Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock fended off criticisms of a gun-registration bill his government was pushing by giving assurances that "there is no reason to confiscate legally owned firearms."
Within 10 months of the minister's assurances, 553,000 legally registered handguns were confiscated. Now, rifles and shotguns must be licensed and
registered. Having learned that the only purpose of registration is to tell the government where the guns are, compliance has collapsed.
Large numbers of law-abiding Canadians prefer to risk five years in prison
than to register their guns.
Gun-control laws dramatically reduce public safety and turn law-abiding
citizens into law-breakers. Licensing and registration increase crime by
devoting police resources to paperwork. Gun-registration databases cannot prevent crimes or aid in their solving, because criminals do not register their
guns.
The people most dangerous to the public are not on the FBI's "Most
Wanted List." Far more dangerous to our safety than criminals are gun-
control extremists like New York Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and
Clinton and Sarah Brady of Handgun Control. These are the people wo
will leave us defenseless as they abrogate the Constitution and destroy
respect for law, while promising an end to "gun violence."
The American Rifleman reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms - the guys who brought us Waco - are using intimidation and
threats to compile an illegal registry of gun owners. The BATF thumbs
its nose at federal court decisions and continues to harass legitimate gun
dealers and purchasers as if they were criminals. We need to ask ourselves
why liberals have made gun confiscation such a priority. I think it is to
distract us from the disastrous results of liberal social engineering. When
high school students shoot their classmates and workers open fire on their
co-workers, the fault lies not in guns. It lies in the breakdown in self-control
and moral integrity. The irrational shootings stem from the success of liberals
in achieving their goals.
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Gun control has made home invasion safe for criminals --
I just have to share this great news from Vin Suprynowicz --
"Beginning March 1, a good deal of my stuff (more serious, detailed, and
expansive material than I've been able to provide under the arbitrary
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"Needless to say, I'm very excited about the kind of expanded coverage of
privacy and other related issues which this will finally allow."