[Rhodes22-list] Yes, It Was a Bushmaster

[Roger Pihlaja]

Dear Bill? or Michael?,

What you fail to mention is that for every accidental gun death or incident
of gun violence there are several incidents wherein responsible people with
guns stopped something bad from happening or saved a helpless victim by
shooting the perpetrator.  The 2nd amendment is NOT about duck hunting!
Read your history of England & then take a look at such modern countries as
Canada, Australia, & the UK.

What's the difference if the sniper used a Bushmaster civilian version of
the M-16 assault rifle?  Any modern high powered hunting rifle would be
capable of doing the same thing.  Any gun is just a tool which can be used
for good or evil.

There were lots of stories that didn't get proper news coverage in the last
3 weeks due to the media being focused on the sniper.  That's the way news
coverage works in a free society these days.

You & I may disagree &, thanks to our constitution, you are entitled to
voice your opinion.  But, I for one would rather put up with this small
downside of relatively easy gun ownership as opposed to the oppression &
helplessness that would surely be the result of taking our guns away.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Effros" <bill@effros.com>
To: "R22 List" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 1:55 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Yes, It Was a Bushmaster


> Wednesday, October 25th, 2002
>
>
> Dear friends,
>
> Yesterday, Larry Bennett, a 16-year old, was shot in the head after he was
involved in a minor traffic accident. You probably didn't hear about it
because, well, how could he be dead if he wasn't shot by The Sniper?
>
> Yesterday, an unidentified woman was shot to death in her car in Fenton,
MI. You probably didn't hear about it because she had the misfortune of not
being shot by The Sniper.
>
> Two nights ago, Charles D. Bennett, 48, an apartment security guard, was
shot to death after confronting two teenagers in his parking lot in Memphis,
TN. You probably didn't hear about it because the sniper was too busy
sleeping in his car that night, and thus, poor Charles was not shot by The
Sniper.
>
> Yes, The Sniper has apparently been caught, so we can go back now to NOT
reporting the DOZENS of gun deaths that occur every day, the ones that just
aren't newsworthy because they happen in all those old boring ways -- unlike
the ways of The Sniper, who was interesting and creative and exciting and
scary! He played so much better on the news.
>
> Of course, had Congress not caved in to the NRA we would have known after
the first HOUR of the first day of the killings three weeks ago that those
bullets were coming out of a rifle that belonged to John Williams/Mohammad.
How would we know this? It's right there in the state records in New Jersey:
this gun was purchased this past July, under the name of John Mohammad!
>
> Many more people died needlessly in the days and weeks after that first
hour of the shootings, and every one of their deaths could have probably
been prevented had we had a national ballistics fingerprinting data base.
>
> Thank you, Mr. Heston for this unnecessary carnage. Thank you, Mr. Bush,
for supporting Mr. Heston and his group's agenda -- which protects only the
criminals.
>
> And thank you, Bushmaster Firearms, Inc., for providing the gun used to
shoot the 13 people in the DC area. Bushmaster's president, Richard E. Dyke,
was the Maine finance chairman of George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential
campaign. According to Business Week, Dyke had to step down as Bush's
finance chair "after reporters began quizzing him about his business
dealings. Bushmaster Firearms Inc., is notorious for using loopholes to
sidestep a 1994 federal ban on assault rifles." Bush and Bushmaster. Too
tragically perfect.
>
> If everyone reading this letter (and you now number in the millions) would
share this fact with just one person who is thinking of skipping going to
the polls on Nov. 5th, I believe that on Nov. 6th, Mr. Bush will have
neither the Senate nor the House doing his or Heston's bidding. Americans
don't like people who assist serial killers in being able to ratchet up
their kills because The Sniper knows that his bullets are prohibited by law
from being traced to his gun.
>
> That, in a nutshell, is what the NRA is all about -- and I implore all
responsible gun owners and hunters to join with me in putting an end to the
NRA agenda once and for all. Don't give Bush his majority on November 5th.
He's already seen to it that his cronies in big business have wiped out your
401 (K), and they are doing their best to see that you are left with no
pension at all. That alone should be reason enough to NOT pull a single
lever for a Republican on Nov. 5th. Send a message. Do something brave.
>
> Yours,
>
> Michael Moore mike@michaelmoore.com www.michaelmoore.com
>
> _________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>
>