On 5/5/04 10:52 AM, in article , "Tim J."
wrote:
Here's the *really* scary part: There are people out there, without guns, that
want to hurt you and your family. Not for any particular reason, they just
like
that sort of stuff. I hope your library has signs to keep them at bay. ;-)

Certainly part of it is knowing and not-knowing. Leading a sheltered life.
Ignorance is bliss and all that. Before the sign went up, in my closeted
life full of denial, no one had a gun. Now I have a constant reminder that
there are those out there who do. I suppose I rather enjoyed my previous
life of ignorance, and look with no little envy upon citizens of those more
enlightened nations whose governments make efforts to keep tools
specifically designed to kill off the streets.

Bic pens, box cutters and airliners can be used to do harm, but they also
have other, reasonable uses. I'm unaware of any such use for a hand gun.
I've met thousands (thousands, I tell you!) of people toting such things as
safety knives, Swiss Army knives, paring knives, and butter knives but have
yet to feel nervous about their armed-ness. Perhaps because I could plainly
see that they were so armed? However, the knowledge that I have no
knowledge of who might (or might not, mind you) be toting a Saturday Night
Special bothers me.

Heck, there are even those out there who are armed with dangerous ideas and
who mean me and my family harm. I'm OK with that as well. I've yet to see
a report on the evening news of a child found with a 44 caliber hole through
him, made by a tenet, belief or religion.

There are whackos out there, certainly. Equally certainly, if they want to
do me harm and a gun is not available, they will do harm with the Bic pen,
box cutter, airliner, nastily written Usenet post or even a 2xl streamer
hook. But giving them the opportunity to arm themselves with a tool whose
only function is to cause bodily harm is stupidity.

My library does have a sign to keep such whackos at bay, by the way. It
hangs right over the circulation desk at says "check books out here."

IMHO.

Bill (who, right quick, is going to get back into "post TRs only" mode.)