[geeks] CCW for Ohio!

[Phil Stracchino]

On Sat, Dec 13, 2003 at 11:55:08AM -0500, Thomas Gallaway wrote:
> On Dec 13, 2003, at 11:43 AM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> >The problem is as was mentioned earlier.
> >
> >If anti-gun people write the tests, no-one would ever pass because they
> >   don't trust anyone to own a gun.
> >If pro-gun people write the tests, the anti-gun people will scream
> >   bloody murder that the tests are fixed.
> 
> Or rather if pro-gun people would pass the test they would write it 
> cause they want everybody to own a gun.

Well, actually, no, that's not true.  In a perfect world, we'd like
everyone *who can show that they're responsible and competent* to be
able to own a gun, without making that showing unreasonably difficult or
prohibitively expensive.  The reason most gun owners are against testing
is because they know full well how difficult it would be to avoid having
either meaningless tests or deliberately-unpassable tests.

I mean, I've taken the California BSFC test, and it's a bad joke.  I've
taken the motorcycle-specific driving tests both in California and here
in North Carolina, and both tests contained questions to which the
official "correct" answers were wrong simply because of misconceptions
about the actual capabilities of motorcycles and the requirements of
riding one.  If they can't get a test on a much more "socially
acceptable" activity like motorcycling right, what's the chances of them
coming up with a meaningful test for firearms proficiency?  Look at the
Massachussetts "firearms card" -- you have to have the card to even
*handle* a firearm legally.  I wouldn't put it past states like
Massachussetts and California to "accidentally" set it up so that you
have to have the certificate to handle a gun, and you have know how to
handle a gun to pass the test to get the certificate.

(To be fair, the NC motorcycle test was much better than the CA one ...
I sense the hand of the MSF at work here.  The NC motorcycle operators
guide basically *IS* the MSF Basic Rider Course guide.)


> >And if you assign a mixture of both to write the tests, they'll never 
> >be
> >   able to agree on a test.
> 
> That's why you have people who have a neutral opinion write the test.
> I am pretty sure they exist.

Sure, the problem is surmountable.  You could assemble a panel of people
who knew enough about the subject to write a realistic test, but didn't
have an axe to grind the other way.  In probably any nation but the US, 
it would probably even work.

Here, it'll never happen.  Because here, the anti-gun lobby have enough
political clout to kill it if they don't like it, and their idea of
"compromise" is stealing only HALF your lunch money now and collecting
the other half tomorrow.

We're talking about organizations that set up and fund large-scale
campaigns of deliberate deception in order to frighten people into
giving them what they want.  Their internal memos plan what lie they're
going to promote next and how they're going to spin it.  We're talking
about groups that intentionally incite panic and public hysteria over
problems that don't, in reality, even exist -- like the current furor
over "deadly .50 sniper rifles that are the preferred weapon of
terrorists" (when [a] they simply *are not a factor* in crime, and [b]
terrorists have MUCH more effective and destructive weapons at their
disposal, like, say, Boeing 757s).  Every time they want to try and
nibble away one more class of firearm, they declare it (completely
unfoundedly) to be "the preferred weapon of criminals", the media plays
along with the game, and the public believes them because "I saw it on
the TV, it MUST be true."

They've repeatedly demonstrated they have no intention of playing fair.
Is it any wonder we don't trust them any more?


> >(This despite the fact that, frankly, shooters are the only people
> >*qualified* to write the tests, because most of the anti-gunners
> >scarcely even know which end the bullet comes out of, let alone have
> >the vaguest idea how to handle, fire or carry a gun safely.)
> 
> I am anti-gun but know how to handle a gun safe. Yes I was member
> of a club where you could fire guns at a range when I was younger
> and that formed my opinion about guns. Actually I was pretty good
> hitting the target too.

So that makes you something of an odd bird, in many ways.  Trust me,
you're the rare exception rather than the rule.


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