🚀 go-pugleaf

 Orion (orion@burger.wimsey.com) wrote:

: > In what other country is it openly argued that gun control is a bad
: > idea because it makes it harder for people to engage in armed
: > rebellion?  Ironically, most of this sort of rhetoric goes on to say
: > that people need the option of armed rebellion to make sure that the
: > government doesn't take away their right to possess firearms!
: > 
: > (I don't know of Canadians share in this same spirit with USAnians; my
: > impression based on little data is that they're more rebellious than
: > Europeans but less than USAnians.)



: Well, to be factual...a armed citizenry is probably more than just the 
: "best" defense against tyranny: it's quite possibly the ONLY defense. And 
: the government taking away the right of private citizens to own firearms 
: would effectively spell the end of Canadian democracy as we know it (show 
: me a TRUE democracy that doesn't allow private citizens (of _any_ ethnic 
: class or background) to own firearms...and isn't a conquered 'aggressor 
: nation, and ask yourself which is 'cause' and which is 'effect'.

: But to answer the original question: the Americans are different from us 
: for the same reason that they so vehemently resist the very *notion* of 
: any form of socialism...because THEY had to fight for their independance, 
: while we had ours handed to us (in my humble opinion, anyway).  :)

Most of Europe, as far as I know, has governments which do not permit the
ownership of weapons.  Not only is private ownership discouraged,
espeically with hand guns, but public possession of them by the police is
considered unnecessary in Great Britain.  IMHO, stating that banning gun
ownership would be the end of democracy in Canada is hyperbole and many
examples in history can be found that would contradict this assertion. 
For example, that statement would indicate that only those who had guns
are the protectors of democracy.  Well, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia
puts that idea in the file of "Assumed Truths".  In addition, when those
Moscovites descended upon the White House in August 1991 to proctect it
from the units of the Red Army, their power came not from the gun, but the
power of ideas.  As with many other examples, I submit that weapons
ownership does not confer freedom, but the tyranny to coerce your fellow
human being.

Jim Cummings