Time: Sun Nov 10 13:06:02 1996
To: Erin Donelle <donelle@snowcrest.net>
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: INTERNET THOUGHT
Cc: 
Bcc: 

Erin,

The Internet is not an "Arm"
in the sense in which that
term is utilized in the Second
Amendment.  

I appreciate the metaphor, but
we are talking Law here, with
poetry thrown in on the side,
and only on the side.

/s/ Paul Mitchell


At 11:38 AM 11/10/96 -0800, you wrote:
> 
>
>       INTERNET THOUGHT
>
>                            --by Erin Donelle
>
>
>I am becoming convinced that the right to use
>the Internet can fall under the protection of
>the Second Amendment.
>
>The Internet is often being used as a weapon to 
>keep the government in check.
>
>The Internet has been used in self-defense, by
>exposing abuses and evidence to the public 
>that otherwise may have been kept secret.  Even
>though abuses continue, many are now widely exposed.
>
>Knowledge is power, and can be an equalizer in
>political and legal cases.  We have become armed
>with information.
>
>The use of the Internet has seen public servants
>FORCED to address TWA 800, CIA's involvement in
>drug traffic, the Gulf War Syndrome, and who can
>guess what tomorrow will produce?  What effects
>may this have had during the Viet Nam POW and MIA
>efforts by the People?  Would MacNamara have
>survived?
>
>Corruption, coverups, and shady deals have been 
>inconvenienced by alternative press and radio, but
>the last few weeks have seen that the usual steps
>taken to handle the 'public' are now insufficient.
>The lightspeed public awareness via the Internet 
>has turned inconveniencies into Congressional Hearings
>and poorly rehearsed, unprepared, press releases for
>mass media as they, too stumble trying to keep up.
>
>The Internet appears to be used as a common modern
>weapon which all the people have a right to use in
>self-defense and other peaceful purposes, and which
>may not be infringed upon.
>
>What other weapon has been so effective, besides the
>firearm and a forty foot rope?
>
>In the physical world, a computer can not be used 
>to prevent you from being raped, murdered or mugged,
>but it is becoming the firearm of thought.
>
>
>                         -----------Erin Donelle 09NOV96
>
>
>
>Permission to use intact granted.
>
>             > > . < <
>
>"Using cross-sectional time-series data for U.S.
>counties from 1977 to 1992, we find that allowing
>citizens to carry concealed  weapons deters violent
>crimes and it appears to produce no increase in 
>accidental deaths.   If those states which did not
>have right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had 
>adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders,
>4,177 rapes, and over 60,000 aggravated assaults
>would have been avoided yearly."
>
>                            -----John R. Lott, Jr.,
>               School of Law Univ. of Chicago, 1996
>
>In other words, if public servants had been prevented
>from violating their Oath of Office, approximately
>1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, and over 60,000 aggravated
>assaults would have been avoided yearly.  Guns would 
>have saved approximately 23,550 lives in 15 years if 
>only people in government would have abided by the Law.
>
>Not to mention before that, back to the time when the
>instinct to defend ourselves had not become diseased 
>through the use of mass media and mass schools;
>Not to mention before that, back to the time when the
>legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our
>government began breaking the laws to which they must
>obey and do not.  That, truly, is "anti-government".
>
>In Liberty Only,
>Erin Donelle
>
>donelle@snowcrest.net
>
>
      

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