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["Shea Tisdale" <shea AT sheatisdale.com>]

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:
> I think we both believe there are some weapons which are too dangerous
> for the society as a whole for individuals to own.

It could be argued that the society as whole does own weapons of mass
destruction and is responsible for their use.  As for individuals, I do
agree that some degree of regulation is necessary.  

> 
> > However the *how dangerous* argument is not really something I can get
> > behind for use in attempting to determine whether something should be
> > illegal or not in our current society.
> 
> So you wouldn't mind if your neighbor had a nuclear weapon?  Or was
> sitting on enough explosives to blow up a town?  Or a biological
> weapon?  As a general rule wouldn't you say that something which could
> kill everyone on a block in a matter of minutes should be illegal?

Once again do we have to go to the very edge of the rational thinking?  I
mean why not just ask if everyone should be allowed to have a doomsday
weapon that will destroy the universe...

My point was that many things in today's society are not regulated based on
"*how dangerous*" they are.  They are regulated via a variety of formulas
and yours might prove to be quite a surprise is applied to other things -
and might have an unintended consequence if applied to guns.

For example:

Statistics say there are approximately 200 million guns in America owned by
35% of the population.

According to the Associated Press in 1994 there were 14.24 guns deaths per
100,000 people.  That works out to be .0001424%

Compare that to the following:


FORMAL NAME INFORMAL NAME % ALL DEATHS
(1) Diseases of the heart  heart attack (mainly)  28.5%  
(2) Malignant neoplasms  cancer  22.8%  
(3) Cerebrovascular disease  stroke  6.7%  
(4) Chronic lower respiratory disease  emphysema, chronic bronchitis  5.1%  
(5) Unintentional injuries  accidents  4.4%  
(6) Diabetes mellitus  diabetes  3.0%  
(7) Influenza and pneumonia  flu & pneumonia  2.7%  
(8) Alzheimer's Disease  Alzheimer's senility  2.4%  
(9) Nephritis and Nephrosis  kidney disease  1.7%  
(10) Septicemia  systemic infection  1.4%  
(11) Intentional self-harm  suicide  1.3%  
(12) Chronic Liver/Cirrhosis  liver disease  1.1%  
(13) Essential Hypertension  high blood pressure  0.8%  
(14) Assault  homicide  0.7%  
(15) All other causes  other  17.4%




> 
> I find the libertarian arguments that government has no role in
> regulating citizens to be non-practical.  There's just so many
> practical areas in which society, by which I mean the general consensus
> of the citizenry, has come to the conclusion that we're going to have
> certain rules to minimize loss of life.
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________
> _________
> Some try to achieve immortality by performing grand deeds or the
> accumulation of
> great wealth. On the whole I prefer to achieve immortality by not
> dying. -- Pratchett
>          -- michael at czeiszperger dot org, Chapel Hill, NC
> 
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