Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gordon A. Langston who wrote (5918)	2/15/2001 3:42:42 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

I try not to confuse correlation with cause and effect but was your comparison of Wyoming and New York based on your personal view of human nature and projected using the lowest common denominator? The only point I was trying to make is that it's hard for people to relate to what it's like in an alien environment. I just picked Wyoming and NYC as the extremes of open spaces vs. crowding. There are plenty of studies that show that crowding makes you crazy. Cities and, increasingly, suburbs, are dehumanizing. I'm old enough to remember when a dispute over a parking place might result in a black eye. Now, one could as easily end up dead. I don't think that people in the wide open spaces have any grasp of what a hair-trigger city folks might have. They're just thinking about their 2nd Amendment right to carry weapons in their pick-up. Regarding registration, it's hardly an answer to the problem. I don't think there's any answer to the problem, only that registration might help a a fair amount with little downside. No, it may not do much about criminals. But there are a lot of crimes committed by those who have no criminal past so it would go a long way toward solving those. It also might cause people to secure their weapons better if they knew that a lost gun used in a crime would result in a knock on the door from the police. And that link may lead the police to a criminal who would otherwise have gotten away with his crime. I think most of it, though, is a matter of message. We require registration for cars and dogs and hairdressers. We treat owning guns like owning crockery or t-shirts. Something's wrong there. I do understand the anxiety about governments gone bad and that gives me pause. While I don't dismiss it entirely, I think that 1) the probability is small and 2) private weapons wouldn't do much good against the force of the U.S. government. Karen