From:	Michael & Linda Frankl mlfrankl@*****.msn.com
Subject:	the value of education (OT-rant, long)
Date:	Wed, 14 Jul 1999 21:29:46 -0400

Allen responded:
>In my ideal world, there are no guns at all. Not likely to ever happen,
>though.I can dream, can't I? :-)
>Hell, you should come over to Sunny SA, where anybody who knows who to
>talkto, and doesn't look like a cop can buy an AK-47 assault rifle
>(favourite weapon of the Struggle) for R50. This converts to about, oh,
>US$10...


As with any technological weapon that requires little or no learned ability
to perform basic operation, once discovered the Genie is out of the bottle.

>So far, *everybody* that I have met, with two exceptions, who owns a
>gun, falls into one of two categories. They are either the macho,
>swaggering, gun-on-your-belt-pull-it-out-at-the-slightest-provocation "I
>am a big man with a big gun" types, or the type who own a weapon which
>sits at home all day, everyday, so that it's never on hand when it is
>needed.


Well then I guess I fall into the second category. I wouldn't consider it as
you do though. My main reason for getting a pistol was watching a bob-cat
trot across my front yard one day. I feel no need to carry it in day to day
activities as my life is not that of a typical Shadowrunner. I am well
versed in a martial art style and know full well that if someone pulls a
gun/knife and I am leaving as fast as my body will propel me. First rule, to
avoid a fight is the optimum method of victory.

In my home, where my pistol is, it is another story. In the street it isn't
initially personal. If I avoid an encounter of the dangerous sort then my
life continues as normal and the would-be assailant doesn't know me from
Adam. If someone breaks into my home then it has become personal. I can no
longer retain my anonymity and this person for sure knows where I live.
That's where I want the option of using a gun if I need it.

Don't think that guns are the problem, there were lots of death dealing
devices before they came along. People are people, some good and some bad.
Ireland is a good example, first they threw rocks then lead. The weapon
isn't the source of the problem it's just a manifestation of it.

;)

Mike, aka Smilin' Jack