Word: handgun
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Buckley said yesterday the measure "would not be a cure-all" for crime, but said it would "measurably reduce deaths" from the "deadly handgun...
...recent article on gun control (Crimson, October 25) shows a striking lack of logic and careful thought. It is true that there are reasonable and fair arguments against handgun control, but Peter Ferrara carefully manages to avoid discussing any of them. Most of what he says is either false or a convincing argument for, rather than against, gun control...
...statement in the second paragraph: "A free, liberal society is supposed to adhere to the principle that people should be free to do as they please with their own lives as long as they don't agress against others." It is difficult to do anything but agress with a handgun, although it is admirably suited for just that. Ferrara wants us to believe that's not true--he denies that a handgun's only purpose is to kill people. Admittedly, there are secondary functions of torturing and maiming, but American society does not condone these either...
Ferrara also lists "alternative" functions of the handgun, and this is where his muddled thinking shows through. The second big function, according to the article, is self-defense. The distinction between self-defense and killing must be a very fine one--unless one doesn't consider a criminal to be a living thing. The other claims of handgun functions are ridiculous. Handguns are too inaccurate for target practice, neither powerful enough for big game hunting nor accurate enough for small game, and certainly not rare enough to be desirable to collectors...
...support his suggestion of the handgun's use for self-defense, Ferrara declares that "There are no statistics on...how many potential muggers, rapists, and murderers are frightened away when their victim shows his gun, and how many potential crimes are never attempted because the criminal suspects his victim has a gun." That's true, and until those statistics appear I will suggest that the picture of a mugger, gun in hand, saying, "Gimme yer wallet" and being scared off when the citizen pulls forth a cleverly concealed .45 is a rerun from "Wild, Wild West." The idea is also...