From john@wagoneers.com Wed Mar 29 21:51:51 2000

I am very concerned about the current trend of gun control legislation.

I've seen a bumper sticker that pretty much sums up the issue:
	"if they get the second they'll take all ten"

The 2nd Amendment is the fundamental basis of our freedom.  It is a check and
balance to the government with as much importance as the branches of the
government. 

>From a solid statistical base it can be shown that gun control laws do
NOT reduce crime, in fact the contrary is true.  I won't cite the
research here, I'm sure you've seen it and disregarded it because it
doesn't support the current view of the media and our current administration.
You probably won't take notice of the decline in crime rates in areas where
concealed
weapon permits were recently issued either.

The creation of laws condemning various styles of gun is absurd.  A gun is
a lethal weapon no matter what form it takes.  What really should be a
concern is
the lack of accountability that is expected of those breaking existing laws.

Anti-gun legislation does little to deter criminals from committing violent
crimes against
law abiding citizens.   All it does is put more laws on the books that
could be used
against otherwise law abiding citizens who may decide to ignore what they
believe to
be an unconstitutional law.  It creates confusion, suspicion and further
vilifies
weapons of any kind.  A criminal is not going to register his or her gun no
matter what
laws you put on the books.  There are already enough laws to prosecute and
convict
individuals that commit crimes, if only the judges would uphold the
convictions and
apply meaningful sentences.

The media has used unfortunate acts by irresponsible individuals who
were already breaking existing laws to further campaign against our basic
rights.  If there isn't an agenda to disarm America, then these people are
sadly
deceived into thinking they can rid America of crime by disarming law abiding 
citizens.  If I believed for a second that we could disarm everyone in the
world
I'd gladly give up any weapons I might have.   But it's not going to
happen.  It hasn't 
happened in England, Canada or Australia.  Now we hear of "Bobbies" having
to rearm themselves
and little old ladies in Australia facing jail sentences for shooting a
burglar or rapist!
Even in New York City where gun control laws have been put into effect that
make Nazi
Germany seem like a free country the taxi cab driver's are demanding police
protection against
armed thugs!

Please, no new gun control laws.  They don't work and only create hardships
for law abiding citizens.  Unless your intent is to disarm the US population
and strip away the 2nd Amendment.  If that's the case just publicly declare
your
intent to eliminate or redefine the Bill of Rights so the voters will have
a clear
view of where you really stand.  You took an oath to uphold the
Constitution, I
took that oath and served in the military during the "Cold War".  

While stationed in Germany I visited Dachau.  What happened in Germany
happened 
in part because the people had been disarmed and were unable to stand up
against 
the evil.  The way things changed over there were the way things are
changing here. 

A crisis, then legislation.  It didn't take Hitler very long to legally
turn Germany
into a dictatorship from a republic...  I'm surprised that the folks in the
media
haven't spotted the similarities.  

The German people agreed to the new laws because of "terrorists" acts.
They didn't question
it, and as a result were led to a disaster.  History speaks volumes on this
topic
if you're willing to listen.   

       http://wagoneers.com/pages/History/Gun-Control.txt

It is morally reprehensible for any leader sworn to uphold the constitution
of the
 United States to come out and publicly attack one of the fundamental rights 
after an act of "terrorism" or violence.  I can't help but wonder what really 
happened in Waco and Oklahoma City; why was the evidence destroyed so
quickly?  
Why did our leaders and media call for more legislation almost
before the smoke cleared?  A thinking person can't help but wonder...  

Please, no more gun control laws...

thanx for your time,
john meister
snohomish, washington


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  An article in the Seattle Washington Post-Intelligencer dealt with 
   accidental deaths caused by physicians (based on research by Laura Key)

       Number of physicians in the US - 700,000
       Accidental deaths caused /year - 120,000
       Accidental deaths/physician = 0.171
  
   based on readily available statistics found on the internet: 

       Number of gun owners in the US = 80,000,000
       Number of accidental gun deaths/year (all age groups) = 1,500
       Accidental deaths/gun owner = 0.0000188
  
THEREFORE,
   one may derive the following:
  
That Doctors are approximately 9000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

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            john@wagoneers.com     http://www.wagoneers.com
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