Posted by Todd (216.199.4.153) on April 29, 2000 at 19:54:34:
In Reply to: Yet another post mentions a gun in the house !! posted by Peter on April 29, 2000 at 11:20:49:
most of the most potent firearms available are produced by European countries that also have the most stringent laws forbidding the possession of such weapons.
Sten, Hech and Kochler, Walther, Glock and countless others.
At least the Israeli's (Uzi) are strong proponents of arming the citizenry.
The violence problem in the U.S. has nothing to do with the availability of firearms. It has to do with the destruction of the social fabric, facilitated by the bleeding heart liberals who have made it a crime to spank your child (NOT abuse...teach!), have facilitated the easy dissolution of marriage and have spent decade upon decade chasing the futile myth of 'social welfare'.
There are families in the U.S. who have not had a job anywhere in the family for FOUR generations. Think about that. Now, think about it some more. What values are being taught?
Now toss in AFDC (Aid for Families with Dependant Children) which REWARDS mothers if they AREN'T married and DON'T live with the father.
But on the other hand, these same bureaucrats have 'protected' us all by mandating childproof medicine bottles that we can't open in the midst of an attack; airbags in autos that add $1000 to the cost and just incidently kill children and short adults; destroyed the most effective telecommunications system in the world (which has finally, after more than 10 years, worked out it's glitches and returned to normalcy, but without all the 'benefits' we were promised); and is now trying to tear down MicroSoft.
Own a small business in the U.S.? Great! Do well, prosper and succeed. That's the American way! Oh, but if you grow to more than 50 employees, you better make sure your entire facility is ADA compliant, and OSHA compliant, has designated non-smoking areas and just for fun, we're going to put enough reporting requirements on you to choke a horse.
Abortion is legal here. But Congress is about to begin a major debate on the issue of using embryonic tissue from aborted fetus' in medical research. This type of tissue research might just be incredibly important to sufferers of all kinds of ailments, including CH.
I'm betting Congress outlaws it. We approve of aborting the fetus, but insist that it receive 'proper respect'. So they will continue to be tossed into medical waste bins and carted off to the incinerator. Squeeze your eyes real tight and you can convince yourself that constitutes 'cremation'. So what if valuable medical research is lost...we've protected 'dignity'.
Before anyone reads the wrong message in this, I support women's rights, and that includes the right to abortion. Your body, Your (and the father's) choice. In fact, I support everyone's rights....with the singular exception of the government. Government has NO rights. It exists solely to serve the needs of the people.
Shame ours (U.S.) doesn't have a clue how to do that.