[geeks] What desk toy or "tchotchke" says "geek" to you?

[Phil Stracchino]

Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> The whole idea of gun control is completely stupid.

Gun control is based on the idea that criminals (i.e, people who don't
obey laws) will obey gun control laws out of some sense of civic
responsibility.

> Everything that has ever been banned has generally made organized crime rich,
> crime rates go up, and made aquiring the banned item only slightly more
> difficult than normal.

*nod*  Gun control laws affect primarily the law-abiding.  Britain never
had a gun crime problem until the drug war leaked from the US and came
ashore in Britain.  Then suddenly unarmed British bobbies started
finding themselves facing drug dealers armed with selective-fire Uzis,
which have been all but impossible for UK citizens to legally own for
fifty years.  So the British government, in response to a number of
publicized incidents such as the "Hungerford Massacre", banned all guns,
subsequent to which the rate of violent crimes and "hot" burglaries soared.

One thing you'll almost certainly never hear in the media about that
"Hungerford Massacre":  One of the guys who called the police and
reported it said, "I have my licensed FAL right here, I have ammunition,
I have a clear shot, I can take him out right now before he kills anyone
else, do I have permission to fire?"  They told him no.  It was another
25 minutes before armed police officers arrived.


As an interesting side note, one side effect of the British gun ban has
been to create a new business:  underground gun rentals for crime.  You
want to do a job, you need a gun, you can RENT one.  If you have to fire
it, making it potentially traceable, you're responsible for the full
price and it's your responsibility to dispose of it in such a way that
it can't be traced.  Welch on it, and you'll never rent another again.


-- 
 Phil Stracchino                     Landline: 603-886-3518
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net         Mobile: 603-216-7037
 Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker, Free Stater