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About Those Guns
NMB, Florida January 28, 2002 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
ABOUT THOSE GUN CARRYING PEOPLE IN SALT LAKE
I think I heard it correctly. Some people in Salt Lake City want to make
it legal for everybody to carry concealed weapons. That is the same
proposition that everyone should be able to smoke any place they want in
that city. I think the positions are the same. The degree of insanity
varies.
Here in the Miami area there is agitation over the proposal of a million
people signing a petition to outlaw smoking in public places like businesses
and restaurants. I, of course, agree with the petitioners. We have been
asking the restaurants we patronize to get rid of the faux non-smoking
sections in their businesses. They think they will lose patrons if they
make the whole restaurant non-smoking. We tried to reason with them that New
York City and the State of California have instituted such non-smoking rules
and people still eat in the restaurants. The need to disperse used smoke
persists.
I am not sure of the reasoning in Salt Lake City about carrying guns. What
will be lost if they are banned? Fearful people are rightly concerned that
gun carrying people with grudges will shoot it out with one another and this
can hurt them as innocent bystanders. They live in the new, not the old
west. Will suicide bombers be welcomed next?
But, let us carry this proposition further. If concealed guns are made
legal what about concealed mines placed in the ground where combatants are
known to tread? Innocents will not know the mines are there and the land
may become like parts of Asia and the old Soviet Empire where mines still
take off limbs and kill unsuspecting people. Bystanders have a point.
I think if the mine idea takes hold, that the places where they are buried
should be marked on some official map. If this map were placed on a web
site then computer literate people could avoid the mines. It seems to me
that this is an idea at least consistent with the proposal to let unlimited
people carry concealed weapons.
Just think! Our country can be just like Afghanistan and Somalia and all
the other places guns and mines are common.
Carol's Evaluation: 9.5 out of 10.
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