Issodhos writes:
> Martin wrote:
> > For public safety.  But I wouldn't place the emphasis on limiting the
> >  number.  Rather, I would place the emphasis on strict requirements for
> >  secure storage and inspection.  There should be some threshold number
> >  of guns that determines when a person has an "armory".  He can own as
> >  many guns above that number as he desires, but they must be stored in
> >  an armory either managed by the military directly, or by a gun club or
> >  private business that meets military standards and is subject to
> >  military and/or police inspection.
>
>      Rather than advance deeper into the police state you seemingly
> advocate, might I suggest that since the vast majority of firearms
> related deaths involves firearms owned by the governments of the
> world, and since the vast majority of privately owned firearms are
> never used to kill anything, if it is a reduction in firearms
> related killing and increased public safety you want, it would make
> more sense to disarm all governments and re-arm the world's
> citizenry.:-) Yours, Issodhos

No, that's not a good idea because you can't disarm all the
governments.  Governments are sovereigns.  The only way to disarm them
is to make them not sovereign anymore, which implies creating a world
government that would then be the *only* sovereign.  I'm in favor of
that, because there can't be sustained world peace without a world
governmentt, a single sovereign.  But I'm not holding my breath
waiting for it.

I don't see why strict gun control implies a police state.  I'd like
to hear your argument.  In any case, I don't advocate a police state.
What do you mean by police state?  A state that has police?  If that
is what you mean, then I certainly would not advocate a state with no
police, since police *are* necessary and always will be necessary in a
social democracy.

In Norway, a variant of the system you call a police state has been in
place for a long time.  It works just fine.  Norway has a vanishingly
small number of criminal shootings.  The police are not armed.  Norway
also has a high per capita gun ownership, since hunting and target
shooting are both very popular here, and since many men are members of
the national guard and are required to maintain a weapon.  If you mean
Norway is a police state, then, yes, I think there should be more of
them.

martin

Martin Smith                    Email: [log in to unmask]
P.O. Box 1034 Bekkajordet       Tel. : +47 330 35700
N-3194 HORTEN, Norway           Fax. : +47 330 35701