Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00179)

M K Ramadoss wrote:
>
> In India, British practice is followed and legally it is almost impossible
> to own a gun. But on the other hand, in the two decades, the situation has
> become worse. Illegal ownership of guns is on the rise and so is the
> incidence of killing and destruction using homemade bombs. Looks like there
> is an epidemic of violence around the world.

	The problem is that gun control in the United States, AS CURRENTLY
WRITTEN AND APPLIED, does not keep the guns out of the hands of career
criminals; they are designed to keep the guns out of the hands of
otherwise law-abiding citizens. Criminals, assured a body of unarmed
victims, don't think twice about using guns in areas of high gun
control.

	Crime is low where neither criminal nor general populace are armed, and
also where both criminal and general populace are armed. Crime is high
when you have a combination of an armed criminal and an unarmed general
populace.

	Also, the picture of police has changed, while many of the laws
surrounding them have not. The police were originally to aid in the
self-defense of the citizens, not to substitute for the self-defense. In
areas with high gun-control, the theory is that the police are there as
a substitute for the self-defense of the citizens, but the laws
governing the police do not indicate this.

	The police are not designed to prevent crimes; they are designed to
apprehend criminals after the crime has been committed. Case after case
has shown that the police have no legal obligation to prevent a crime
from taking place.

	Bart Lidofsky