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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (22508)	5/29/1998 7:25:00 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Alex, the issue of criminality is one on which we absolutely disagree, to the extent I don't think either one of us has a chance of persuading the other to change their opinion at all. To me, when you make important the "fact" that the children in possession of guns are committing a felony, you lose me right away. Children are not adults. They do not think very rationally, and even if you told them all they would be locked up for five years if they ever touched a gun, I doubt it would make much of a difference, because they are somewhat irrational. Neither is there any real evidence that locking up a much larger percentage of our society than other countries do, makes us anything but barbaric and primitive, and short sighted. People who are in prison for nonviolent crimes could much more cheaply be rehabilitated, and become productive, tax-paying, consuming members of society. We have criminalized substance abuse, and race itself, to a marked degree. The cost of warehousing prisoners who are not a danger to us is sucking up money that could be much better spent on education. Of course, why am I surprised? It reflects the same mentality that having almost everyone armed does--harsh, frontier justice. Your argument also assumes that it is rational to have guns everywhere, but mine does not. If you left your daughter playing on the floor with a cigarette lighter, would you be surprised if she started a fire? Would that say more about her "misbehavior" or your creating a dangerous environment? I think the society as a whole has created a dangerous environment by loading it with guns, and would start there in looking for answers. You would, I guess, start by trying to change the behavior or children (and adults) for whom the prevalence of guns is obviously inherently dangerous. I am sure we will never agree, as I said before!! But please do tell me if I am misunderstanding your point.