Re: #2721 ASPERGER'S

On Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:07:23 -0500, Sharky <sha...@hellsgates.cor>
wrote:

>  "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are
>  neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make
>  things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they
>  serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed
>  man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
>  -Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria

*cough*bullshit*cough*. The interesting thing is that Denmark is one
of the most free countries in the world while at the same time having
one of the lowest levels of violence - 60 murders a year or
thereabouts for 5.5 million citizens is not too shabby. Traffic
accidents involving bicycles cause more deaths than that, I think. We
largely trust our government, civil service and fellow citizens
(within limits - we're not totally na�ve), there's no corruption to
speak of (try to bribe a civil servant and you're likely to end up in
jail) and we generally feel safe, at home and in public. And we're
mostly unarmed. Whereas the U.S. of A has a large proportion of the
population incarcerated, a large number of murders and other violent
crimes (to be fair, some areas are harder hit than others - I'm sure
there are sedate parts of the nation too), a low level of trust in the
government, a large proportion of the worlds lawyers and a
constitutionally protected right to bear arms. Somehow this seems
significant. Perhaps if people are not armed and lawyers do not
abound, differences must be resolved in a civilized way...? ;-)

But all that aside, I'd much rather have an environment without
weapons everywhere - a fight without weapons typically ends up with
reversible damage, whereas if everybody is armed you have to shoot
first and ask later if you want to survive the experience. Not to
mention accidents with firearms, one of the most significant sources
of shooting deaths - no weapons means no accidents means no dead
children.

So forgive us for not buying into that slightly medieval concept. On
balance it looks like our way of doing business is working out OK for
us.

Regards,
Morten

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