re: extraterritoriality: NO Q CONTENT

[William Elliott <William.Elliott@mail.mei.com>]

> Not to mention the UK and Japan trying to use the UN to interfere with
> the US population's Constitutional right to keep and bear arms (or for
> that matter, the rest of the world's natural law right to keep and bear
> arms).

Phil responds:

>Huh?

But didn't I hear today about an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old setting off a 
fire alarm and lying in wait to kill four classmates and a teacher?

Great rights you have.  What was that statistic again?  "A family weapon is
27 times more likely to kill a member of the family than it is to kill a 
stranger"?<<<

The US ***used*** to value the ideas of individual freedoms combined
 with individual responsibilities.  In fact, it was founded on a strong
doctrine of self determination.  (Remember the "civil war" of 1776?)
This "right" is all-important (and includes the right to bear arms), but 
must always be balanced with responsibility for one's
actions. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost that last bit, making it easier
to argue that we shouldn't have the rights in the first place. It is a sad 
commentary on modern society that ANYONE can look at this event and 
blame the availability of firearms.

Use of statistics:  "kill a family member" includes suicide.  Take the suicide 
portion out and the equation shifts dramatically.  Another oft-quoted statistic 
(which
I can't prove nor have a valid source for) is that baseball bats are 
responsible for
more homicides than "assault weapons"; but no one is arguing that bats should
only be outlawed and used only by professionals...

If someone is intent on homicide, they will find a means.... how many bombings 
in the 
UK last year?

In college, I had an argument with a Soviet communist.  She maintained that 
Soviet citizens
had more "freedom" than US citizens.  She listed these as the "freedom FROM 
unemployment", 
the "freedom from hunger", the "freedom from homelessness".  If that's the way
you define freedom, she was right.  All of the freedoms I listed were "freedom 
TO ...."

Bill Elliott
Lake Mills, WI
With Freedom TO have and use both my car and firearm collections...