In a message dated 8/18/99 5:32:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca writes: << Or try to understand the logic of the constitutional "right to bear arms" in the light of all the drive-by slayings that clutter the front pages of otherwise respectable newspapers around the world.... Cheers, Paul >> God, Paul, nothing like insightful political commentary from the completely uninvolved :) The fundamental unit of political power is not the vote, nor the dollar, but the bullet. That's where everyone's freedom comes from and that's what maintains it. Making the bullets available to responsible citizens (and this is where we really need to focus our legislative work) keeps absolute power from the hands of the government. Some of us prefer freedom to safety. It's a trade off. But that type of thinking is unknown to those who view government as a large maternal breast upon which a doltish populace needs to feed. We have a saying down here in the South, "You'll get my gun when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands." People aren't kidding when they say that. Jim PS