From: PA146008@utkvm1.utk.edu (David Veal)
Subject: Re: guns in backcountry? no thanks
Lines: 67
Organization: University of Tennessee Division of Continuing Education

In article <0096B294.AAD9C1E0@uinpla.npl.uiuc.edu> reimer@uinpla.npl.uiuc.edu (Paul E. Reimer) writes:

>In article <1qkftjINNoij@cronkite.cisco.com>, pitargue@cisco.com (Marciano Pitargue) writes:
>
>[stuff deleted about causes of people in ER]
>
>>and your factoid about shooting victims in the ER.  count how many come in
>>due to automobile accidents and automobile crimes.  maybe we should outlaw
>>cars.
>>marciano pitargue@cisco.com
>
>There are a lot of automobile accidents, but atleast there is some
>regulation to try to combat this.  When I got my drivers license, I HAD
>to take a drivers safety class.  

      Tennessee, at least, does not require any sort of safety class to
get a driver's license.  All that is required is one twenty question
quiz and to drive a car around the block without crashing.

>I HAVE to be licensed to drive.  

      In all probability, no you don't.  You are required to be licensed
to drive on public roads.  A license is not necessary on private property.

>My car
>MUST be registered.  

       Most states do not require the registration of cars that are
not used on public roads.  Those that do (California I know of) do
so for tax purposes more than anything else.
    
>I MUST (at least where I live) have liability
>insurance on both myself driving and my car (if someone else had an
>accident with it).  

       Many states do not currently require this, and most, again,
only make this requirement for public roads.  A car sitting unused 
is not required to have insurance.

>Hmm, wouldn't manditory saftey classes, registration
>of both the owner and gun, and manditory liability insurance be nice for
>gun owners.

       The two are not the same, as I pointed out above.  There are
significant difference between making rules for *use on public property*
and *making rules for ownership*.

       The other half of the objection is trust.  Similar things to this
have been tried in many local jurisdications across the country, and
have been abused in far too many cases.   Safety classes which are
never sheduled, never funded, or only one or two is held a year for
a limited number of participants.  Registration lists in New York,
Chicago, and California have been used for confiscation.  *Many* gun
owners would, in theory, support these planes.  (Although the
numbers overwhelmingly show that competence is not the problem, that
intentional misuse is).  They've simply seen it abused and are leery of
the next person who comes down the pike with a "reasonable" suggestion
they've already seen abused.




------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Veal Univ. of Tenn. Div. of Cont. Education Info. Services Group
PA146008@utkvm1.utk.edu - "I still remember the way you laughed, the day
your pushed me down the elevator shaft;  I'm beginning to think you don't
love me anymore." - "Weird Al"
