| Show mmzmm c fiitTTWBmiftgBfflirgiti i roii Lost right of privacy The new American brand of warfare by Mac Webster opinion editor Our country is at war and many of us have failed to realize that we are suffering mass numbers of casualties Fm not talking about the "military option" we look in the Fenian Gulf or even the "police ac-lion" that was utilized in Vietnam I am speaking about the”dvil war" that has been waged in our country's borders The sides have been se-lected foiK'ed and are stalking each other constantly the National Rifle Associaf ' jn vs Handgun Control International In jider to understand this problem an understanding of the die prerjse for disagreement needs to be addressed The Second Amendment guarantees: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” Hie controversy comes when people attempt to decide the modem relevance of this amendment The NRA argues that thepeople have a guaranteed Constitutional right to keep and bear arms However the Supreme Court of the United States says that this right does not exist on two different levels The Court's argument is that these Constitutional rights mast be ex- cases the Court has not done so tended to individuals in and thus there is no protection Second the court does not afford an in- right to bear arms as distinct from an individual's participation in a collective body or militia These repeated rulings along with the Brady bill should have put an end to the controversy surrounding handguns in the United States but it didn't The two sides continue to battle and with them we as individu- als are being thrown into the gun Are literally Last year ova 30000 individuals were killed by handguns in the United States this is more than the number of American soldiers killed in Vietnam during a single year This statistic although grim means until you examine the death rates in countries that don't have "the right to keep and bear arms" Germany experienced seven fatal shootings last year with Japan loosing a staggering fourteen to hand- guns What makes these statistics even more horrifying is that the coun- tries of Germany and Japan also have many of the same social problems that the United States has especially the problem of drug abuse What NRA advocates fail to realize is that drugs may not necessarily be the cause of an increase in handgun deaths but rather handguns help drug non-Feder- al runners more readily secure fear in their potential clients thus perpetu-ating the drug problem in the United States A legalization of dnigs may have benefits in terms of the health of Americans and our ccon- omy but little will happen in terms of handgun deaths After researching this article I decided I no longer believe the Brady bill to be enough We need to have an absolute ban on handguns and assault rifles in this country Many argue that when you place a ban on something it increases in demand I would ask those individuals to ex plain the death rates in Germany and Japan before they assert this in- crease in demand Still others argue that crime will increase because people will not be able to defend themselves once again I would ask them to explain the success in other countries Others also argue that when you begin limiting certain rights that a limit on other rights will be soon to follow There is no empirical evi- dcnce supporting this claim and very little logic involved In fact lim- iting certain useless rights in the 20th century insures a precise focus on the rights we should be most concerned with Realizing that 30000 people died last year from handgun fire it seems impossible that 27 million members of the NRA would choose to ignore our plight and yet they have Our society tells these individu-dividuals that it is both American and masculine to own and operate a gun Utah is a prime example of societies acceptance and encouragement of gun usage This state declared a holiday so "men" can drive their drive trucks into the woods and shoot doer with high caliber rifles This holiday not only perpetuates the myth of a right to arms but it also helps in the destruction of the environment Our campus also helps entrench this fallacious right with Outlaw Tag Young college students running around shooting each other in the name of unity and fun This has problems that are very apparent live to gun control but the problems of this event are far reaching Students missed class and drove lo Spanish fork to kill their victim students disrupted class to be the victor in this barbaric game Handguns are creating a huge problem in our country today Our streets have become battle grounds and our children are dying at a rate that should scare us into action There is no Constitutional right to bear arms and there is no rational justification for that right in the face of the numbers massacred in our streets This is Mac Webster signing off from Price USA reminding you to stop the bloodshed al four-whe- el rcia-nolhi- ng Gun control legislation solves nothing by Sam Pittman editor In 1981 John Hinckley Jr attempted to assassinate the president of the United States with a handgun He wounded the president and the president soon recovered Reagan's press secretary James Brady was not so lucky His wounds confined him to a wheelchair and made it dilTicult for him to speak clearly This was a tragic incident that did irreparable damage to the lives of the Bradys and their loved ones forever What is more tragic is that the Brady's have used this incident as a platform to begin work to repeal our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms There are many who argue that the Second Amendment does not allow for the possession of firearms by citizens but rather by members of a national guard In my mind 213 years of interpreting the Second Amendment as the right to bear arms is Prima Facie evidence that it guarantees just that We want to change our interpretation of the advocates tell us will Second Amendment in a move that violence help to control The anti-gu- n campaign operates on fear and emotion The propathat eadi year 30000 people are murdered by handtells you ganda guns Ask yourself how many of these deaths are gang related How many of the victims were engaged in the commission of the crime advocates do not want you to know the truth behind The anti-gu- n these numbers as with all propaganda an educated public is contrary to their purpose What is the truth behind the numbers? The vast majority of gun-contr- ol l shooting deaths are the result of crime related activities Gang related violence is by far the most common cause of shooting deaths Estimates for the city of Los Angeles range from 70 to 90 percent Another 8 to 12 percent fall under the heading of domestic violence On the surface this makes a good case for gun control but when we examine the true causes of these deaths it certainly b not guns Nearly all violence in the inner cities can be attributed to drugs directly or indirectly Dealing illegal drags is big business in the city Rival gangs war for the turf on which to sell drags Drags then are the cause of gang violence Without the profit from illegal drags there would be no incentive to war for turf in the first place no reason lo shoot at each other Automatic weapons have been around a long time and thm h been no clamor to outlaw guns Only since the drag problem has gotten out of hand has their been an outcry against weapons Banning guns will not take the guns away from the gangs any more than making drags illegal has taken drugs away from them Eliminate the thriving trade in illegal drugs and you will eliminate 90 percent of gang related violence Simple solution to two serious problems Like it or notjlhe only way to eliminate the black market in drags is to legalize them Why kill each other over turf to sell drags when people can get them anywhere? We have brought the gang violence of the inner cities upon ourselves We refuse to deal compassionately with the drag problem choosing instead to funnel more money into (condoned on page 5) by Matthew Moncur staff writer Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandcb once identified a fundamental right of Americans as being "The right to be let alone" This right although not specifi-call- y mandated by the United States constitution is a basic tenet of American beliefs It is also something on the decline in America Consider the case of Cincinnati Bell a phone company who was subpoenaed by Proctor and Gamble in a case of suspected industrial espionage Cincinnati Bell searched the calling records of all 635000 of its customers Certainly this is a shocking case though there are many others More and more companies are keeping "Consumer Profile” records that they are often more than willing to sell to other companies Many Americans are shocked and appalled by this but the question remains: arc we willing to do something to stop it? The November 11 1991 issue of 77m magazine reported that 76 percent of Americans are concerned about the amount of information about them that is by the Government and businesses These same Americans also appear to want to learn such information about their peers however as some of those concerned arc undoubtedly helping to supporta new two hundred million dollar industry: home espionage devices This is not accusing Americans of forming secret spy organizations This is for real CSS Counter Spy Shop a store specializing in clandestine listening devices has chain outlets in New York City Houston Miami and Washington But even here in Utah we can not br Such devices are readily available from many catalog outfits well as some retail electronics stores I am not attempting td condemn such devices which do have many legitimate uses The fact remains: privacy is a right that should extend to every member of our society If such devices arc reed improperly peoples rights can be violated There are other ways of violating privacy besides using James Bond style devices I would (continued on page i) pos-sess- ed u |
