Jim, I believe in peace, am a peace loving man. I do not call myself a "pacifist," though, because I would defend myself, my family, or others (depending on the situation) from threat of imminent bodily harm or death.

Yes, we have similar laws for persons with weapons. Those who break the law, however, do not disarm themselves because it is illegal.

You say a guy with a gun in your country is a criminal. I'll bet the prime minister has guys with guns all around him. I'll bet there are guys with guns around the royal palace. I'll bet every police station has an arsenal of weapons. So guys with guns aren't really illegal, the possession of guns by law abiding civilian citizens is.

Yes, we do have the phenomenon of the "mass shooting." This is brought on by the fact that law-abiding gun owners are not permitted to carry weapons into certain areas known as "gun-free zones." Nearly 100% of these mass shootings take place in those "gun-free zones." There seems to be a "type" that's emerging, which is more likely to commit such crimes. They include a vengeful nature, borderline personality disorder (blaming everything on others, never taking personal responsibility...hmmm), and cowardice (they never pick police stations, gun shops, or NRA meetings to do this, only places where they know they will not be confronted by armed defenders.)

Recently, in Colorado, one such murderer made a mistake. He picked a church to carry out his act, killed a few people and was prepared to carry out a massacre, but was confronted by a member of the church, a woman who was an armed citizen and who volunteered to help "guard" the church against just such an event. The woman insisted that he surrender. When he kept firing, she shot him, wounding him, so the murderer with a rifle and several guns didn't fight, he killed himself. Seems to me to be a cowardly thing, an evil act by someone who blamed everyone else but himself.

Anyway here are some interesting quotes and articles.

"Excluding murder, Scots are almost three times more likely to be victims of assault than Americans. England and Wales have proportionately the second highest number of assaults.

Many experts believe Britain’s heavy-drinking culture is to blame for the frequency with which fights break out." this is from Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1785929,00.html

So you folks might want to outlaw drinking!


And there's this: "Scotland has the second highest murder rate in western Europe and Scots are more than three times more likely to be murdered than people in England and Wales, according to a study by the World Health Organisation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1578388,00.html

Jim, I'm worried for you, buddy. Move here to Tennessee. I've got a spare room and I'll protect you.


You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

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-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music