Re: Look out! long haired gun loons
michael k teehan (miketeehan@worldnet.att.net)
Sat, 20 Dec 1997 06:23:53 -0500
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> From: michael k teehan <miketeehan@worldnet.att.net>
> To: extropians@extropy.com; extropians@maxwell.kumo.com
> Subject: Re: Look out! long haired gun loons
> Date: Friday, December 19, 1997 7:40 PM
>
>
>
> ----------
> > 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.