[141190] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: (OT) Firearms Was: UN declares Internet access a "human right"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Daniel Seagraves)
Mon Jun 6 10:32:18 2011
From: Daniel Seagraves <dseagrav@humancapitaldev.com>
In-Reply-To: <170007.1307367704@turing-police.cc.vt.edu>
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 09:31:49 -0500
To: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
On Jun 6, 2011, at 8:41 AM, Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
> Nice try, but the human right you just made a case for is "the right =
to rid
> yourself of criminals and despots". A "fundamental right" for =
citizens to have
> firearms does *not* automatically follow. Yes, despots usually need =
to be
> removed by force. What Ghandi showed was that the force didn't have =
to be
> military - there are other types of force that work well too...
I believe that as a law-abiding citizen, I should have the right to be =
at least as well-armed as the average criminal. If the average criminal =
has access to firearms, then I should have that option as well. I should =
not be forced into a disadvantage against criminals by virtue of my =
compliance with the law. Once law enforcement is effective enough to =
prevent the average criminal from having access to firearms, then the =
law-abiding population can be compelled to disarm. This stance can =
result in an escalation scenario in which criminals strive to remain =
better-armed than their intended victims, but the job of law enforcement =
is to prevent them from being successful.
At present, the average criminal in my area does not have firearms, and =
so I do not own one. Gun crime is on the increase, however, so this =
situation may change.
