Re: Look out! long haired gun loons
michael k teehan (miketeehan@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 19 Dec 1997 19:40:45 -0500
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> From: Wayne Hayes <wayne@cs.toronto.edu>
> To: extropians@maxwell.kumo.com
> Subject: Re: Look out! long haired gun loons
> Date: Friday, December 19, 1997 12:31 PM
>
> Brian D Williams <talon57@well.com> writes:
>
> >Well actually you probably consider that eastern Europe, but the
> >western countries all still have militaries and armed citizens to
> >some degree, perhaps you missed the recent post from one of our
> >Dutch members?
>
> >Canada? Last time I checked you still had a military
>
> I don't think Jefferson was talking about militaries, and neither
> are the people in this thread. The "armed" in this thread clearly
> refers to average citizens. In that sense, the US citizenry is
> far more heavily armed than any other (first-world) country I'm aware
> of. Certainly there are plenty of people in Western Europe and Canada
> with guns, but the percentage is far lower than in the US, and the
> kinds of guns are generally different, too. Fully automatic weapons
> are almost non-existent in Canada (outside the military), and I suspect
> the same is true for most of Western Europe. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
>
> >[Canada] not to
> >mention armed citizens
>
> Hardly anybody in Canada (percentage-wise) owns a gun. I can only
> think of one person, in all the people I know personally (including all
> the not-so-close acquantences of my family), who owns a gun --- a
> pistol. I used to have many friends who had guns, but they were all
> people who were involved with the Canadian military. (I used to be in
> the the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. I was on the rifle team. I was the
> top cadet marksman in southern Ontario. It was fun, and some day I may
> buy a rifle, but it's not high on my priority list. So, you see, I have
> nothing personally against guns, I'm just arguing your facts here.)
>
> >not to mention a rather large and
> >extremely well armed neighbor to the south. If you think thats got
> >nothing to do with it, you're only kidding yourself.
>
> Nothing to do with "it"? What "it" are you refering to?
>
> If you mean that the reason some Canadians have guns is because the
> US has lots of guns, I disagree. Most Canadians will name "guns" as
> one of the primary differences between Canadians and Americans. The
> Canadians that *do* own guns would probably do so regardless of the
> armed-ness of the US.
>
> So, as I said, since it is clear to me that there exist countries
> today that are substantially unarmed and also free and peaceful, it is
> unclear that Jefferson's statement will be proved correct in the long
> term.