GUN CONTROL

                      A Libertarian Outlook

                   by Gerald Schneider, Ph.D.

     "Guns don't kill people; people kill people" is more true 
than gun control advocates admit.  Look at the number of murders 
committed each year _without_ guns.  Stabbing deaths occur as 
often as gun deaths in this area and elsewhere.  Would those who 
favor gun control also call for knife control?
     Do you think persons intent on murder are not imaginative 
enough to kill without guns or knives?  I recall the 1982 murder 
of a woman with a sledgehammer by her estranged husband at a 
nearby shopping center.  Watch how quickly the art of poisoning 
returns should other weapons be outlawed.

                     Prejudice Against Guns

     Face it: People who want government enforced gun control are 
prejudiced against guns and gun owners.  Having already made up 
their minds that guns are inherently evil, they reject facts to 
the contrary.  They forget that ordinary citizens own guns 
primarily for hunting, target shooting, and as collectibles, as 
well as for self-defense.
     Worse than being prejudiced, those wanting laws to control 
gun ownership are dangerous!  For the doubtful possibility of 
saving some innocent lives, they would deny ordinary citizens 
their right to keep and bear arms.  These are the same people who 
would use the force of government to deny you other human rights 
as well, which do not fit their ideas about society.  That is 
anti-liberal!

                      Guns for Self-Defense

     When it comes to self-defense, guns are important to some 
people, especially women, the poor, and the elderly.  Consider 
how many rapes, muggings, and burglaries are prevented by a 
potential victim flashing a gun.
     Even so-called "Saturday night specials" will frighten 
criminals away.  In fact, these cheap guns are the choice of poor 
people, who are most likely to be victimized and least able to 
afford expensive guns for self-defense.  The show of any gun can 
be a deterrent to crime.
     A recent attempted robbery in a nearby town was foiled when 
the victim stabbed and shot one of his assailants, scaring off 
the other two.  We can only guess what would have happened to the 
victim if defense with weapons were not possible--but he would 
have been robbed for certain.

                  A Protection from Government

     Those lobbying for laws to control guns assume the 
government police will always be benign.  There are many formerly 
free countries that are now dictatorships where citizens made 
that mistake.  Just imagine what government officials would do 
with records of gun ownership if our government became 
totalitarian.
     Not all that many years ago, a gun might have been the only 
thing that saved some blacks in this country.  Even government 
police posed a danger to you if you were black and became 
"uppity."  How easy it is for those who would have the government 
control guns to forget!

                   Guns for Innocent Citizens

     Guns, of course, are not for everyone.  But guns should be 
available to innocent citizens with no government hassle.
     As George Orwell of _1984_ fame wrote in his _Essays, Volume 
IV:_ "...Though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought 
forward, I think the following rule would be found generally 
true: that in ages in which the dominant weapon is cheap and 
simple, the common people will have a chance..."

     Reprinted from THE WHEATON NEWS of Wheaton, Maryland, Aug. 
7, 1986. For a one year subscription to Mr. Schneider's biweekly 
"Libertarian Outlook" column, send $15 to: Gerald Schneider, 8750 
Georgia Ave., Suite 1410-B, Silver Spring, MD 20910.  Copyright 
1986 Gerald Schneider, Ph.D.

(This is the text of one of a series of eight topical Libertarian 
outreach leaflets produced by the Libertarian Party of Skagit 
County, WA.  The leaflets have a panel with National LP member-
ship information, with a space for other LP groups to stamp their 
own address and phone number.  Samples and a bulk price list/ 
order form are available from: Libertarian Party of Skagit 
County, P.O. Box 512, Anacortes, WA 98221.)