Stephen Hand (shand@ssg.com.au)
Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:19:34 +1100
Paul Murphy wrote,
> As a result, this may lead
>to a licencing requirement, since a ban on the sale of sharp weapons is
>ludicrous (anyone can use a grindstone or whetstone)
Do politicians know this? And if they do know it, do they care? Don't be
fooled into thinking this is a public safety issue, it isn't, or the
politicians would be genuinely looking at the root cause of the problem
(people going "postal" is a quite recent phenomenon while weapons aren't,
ergo...). A lot of people perceive this as a public safety issue but the
politicians don't. They see it as a way to deflect people's gaze from the
real issues and to visibly do something to improve the daily life of the
common man (or woman, thanks Reg).
In short, if it comes to legislation, politicians may see a ban on sharp
swords as being just the ticket. They will be seen to be doing something
while actually doing nothing and not upsetting anyone enough to lose their
vote.
Don't make the mistake of trying to apply common sense to political agendas.
Stephen Hand
Pike and Musket Society of NSW
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8500/index.htm
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 30 Jan 2001 - 02:30:53 GMT