From: hambidge@bms.com
Subject: Re: Gun Control (was Re: We're Mad as Hell at the TV News)
Reply-To: hambidge@bms.com
Organization: Bristol-Myers Squibb
Distribution: na
Lines: 35

In article <C4tsHu.Ew6@magpie.linknet.com>, manes@magpie.linknet.com (Steve Manes) writes:

>
>What relevance are ALL homicides in this debate?  What do you think gun
>control advocates are saying: that if we get rid of all handguns we will
>live in a homicide-free world?

They sure make it sound like that.

>
>The issue is guns, not baseball bats.  Even a simpleton knows that
>he stands a better chance of surviving an attack with a baseball bat...
>certainly of outrunning a bat-wielding assailant.
>

Even a simpleton knows a baseball bat is considered a deadly weapon. 
If one cannot run away (e.g. old, infirm, even middle-aged if the
assailant is younger), a handgun is the most effective means of
defense. You won't even have to fire a shot 98% of the time.

>As for knives, see my earlier post.  I'd much rather face a knife
>than a gun, thanks.  Fortunately, the best defense against a knife isn't
>another knife.  Anyone trained in unarmed self-defense won't have
>much of a problem disarming a knife assailant untrained in knife
>assault (which probably means 99.9% of knife assailants).

Any real streetfighter (and there are LOTS of them), with or without a
knife, will kick the living sh** out of most people "trained in
unarmed self defense".  For the majority of people, a gun is the most
effective form of self defense.

Al
[standard disclaimer]


