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Ferran: We Must Stop Baseball Bat Violence!
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Ferran: We Must Stop Baseball Bat Violence!
By Mark R. Ferran, BSEE
BENNETT: JEFFREY BENNETT
A Message from the Coalition to Stop Bat Violence. (Formerly known as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence).
Setting: The Year 2020, six months after the last privately-owned gun was found and destroyed. We have finally made All Americans (including intruders) Safe from Gun Violence in Americans' Homes. But we must continue our struggle to make All Americans safe from Violence in homes and businesses, and on the streets.
"Adolpho Hernandez was executed today for the Sept. 30, 1988, robbery and murder of 69-year-old Elizabeth Alvarado who was beaten to death with a baseball bat bat inside her Lubbock, Texas, home." ("Elizabeth's family was again devastated one year later, when Elizabeth's granddaughter, Melissa Ann Garcia, was raped and stabbed to death by Texas death row inmate Jack Wade Clark."
It was proved years ago that Bats are simply not effective for self-defense against gun violence, as illustrated by cases like (Pennsylvania shopkeeper armed only with "a nail-studded baseball bat" (i.e., a mace) is shot and killed while trying to defend the life of a family friend involved in a "gun battle.")
Fortunately, No Guns are involved in heinous crimes today. So, Baseball Bats have become statistically more effective and more popular among those people (particularly homeschoolers and other separatists) who think they have a right to defend themselves. But now something must be done about proliferating Bat Violence!
Roland "Bud" Scoville was beaten with a baseball bat outside his bait and tackle shop in Auburn, NY.
Marvin (Charles) Prater, Robbed and Killed by Baseball Bat.
Man Beaten With Baseball Bat, Co-Worker Charged with Attempted Murder. Man Beaten With Baseball Bat
This page Contains the Image of: One Dead Man, One Pedophile, and At Least One cold-blooded Baseball Bat-Owning Murderer who used the baseball bat to break open the skull of the dead man. Can you recognize the baseball bat owner by looking at the faces? The Death of Vincent Chin - murdered by a Racially Motivated Baseball Bat MONSTERS KILLED BOY OVER BUCK in New York City
"The sound of the blow was variously described by the observers as a popping or cracking noise, or the sound of a baseball bat hitting a ball. ... the victim's death resulted from being struck in the head with a baseball bat intentionally wielded by the defendant with great force. We are convinced that a rational factfinder could have found defendant guilty of intentional second-degree murder."
15-year-old chased and bashed with an aluminum baseball bat in New York City
A "perceived gay" man was hit several times in the head with a baseball bat.
Bank robbed with "display" of Bat.
It was not Guns that caused these deviant and criminal acts. Guns Don't Kill People, any more, since now only the Government has Guns. See. e.g., "Sheriff's deputy Friday morning shot and killed a Lakeland man, who police say threatened him with a baseball bat during a drug raid.". (Saturday, July 27, 2002)
and
"how can 8 officers justify shooting a 60 year old guy armed with a baseball bat?"
Every incident of Bat Violence above was the fault of irresponsible baseball bat-manufacturers! Due to the marketing and explosive growth of the Bat industry since the abolition of private gun-ownership, manufacturers must be held accountable for the violence they have caused. They must be sued and legislated out of existence! They must be sued and legislated out of existence! Bat violence is caused by bats in every place where manufacturers sell bats, even Japan! and "Last year, one 17-year-old boy bludgeoned passengers at a trendy Tokyo shopping district with a baseball bat after a fight with his father; another beat his mother to death with a metal bat".
And in Brisbane, Australia, a man was bashed to death while seated in chair, receiving at least seven blows to the head with a bat. A Judge described the murder as savage and carried out with "callous indifference to human suffering". The Murderer, who pleaded guilty said, "who gives a *" before being led out of court. Two other murders committed by bats in Australia.
Perhaps the UN should get involved with Bat Control, as it did with Guns. Read of many proven methods for National and International Bat Control.
Meanwhile, here in the United States, irresponsible Bat manufacturers are still promoting new lines of "Assault" Bats "intended to hit a baseball faster and harder than the traditional wooden bat" with full knowledge of their propensity to cause serious injury or death. "Swing Batter Batter"
Accordingly, we propose the public distribution of the following brochure (adopted from a successful but obsolete brochure. We Must Stop Bat Violence!
SAFE
Bat Ownership
SAFE
Bat Storage
Safety Essentials for Responsible Bat Owners
Safe Bat Ownership
Responsible bat ownership means learning and practicing behaviors that will help prevent needless injury, death and theft.
* Record the serial number of your bat.
* Check with your local police department to learn the laws about carrying or transporting bats outside of your home.
* Take a bat safety course and learn how to use and care for your bat. Through a good safety course you will learn the parts of the bat, the safety features, how to safely care for a bat, and how to safely handle, aim and swing a bat.
* Practice safe bat storage.
* Do not allow children or teens to handle or use a bat without parental or professional supervision.
* Know your bat's standard safety features and use them!
* Always handle your bat as if it were lethal.
* Uncase your bat only when you are ready to swing it.
* Clean and inspect the bat regularly and carefully.
* Check your bat twice before you clean it to be sure it is locked.
* When cleaning your bat, never leave the area. It should be in your view at all times.
* Do not try to fix a bat yourself if it breaks.
* Dispose of balls properly. Contact your local police for assistance in disposing of balls - DO NOT THROW THEM in the trash.
* Never show off with your bat or talk about it at a party.
Safe Bat Storage
It is your responsibility to keep your bat out of the hands of those who, deliberately or accidentally, may misuse it.
* Lock your bat. Bats should be stored securely locked out of sight or reach to minimize the risk that they will be used by unauthorized others such as children, teens, burglars, or the mentally ill or emotionally disturbed.
* Keep the keys to the lock(s) that secure your bat(s) on your key chain and with you at all times. Keep keys out of reach of children and teens.
* Remember that when an automatic-swinging or semi-automatic-swinging bat is left alone in a room, there still may be a ball in the room. Check the room to be sure it is empty.
* Store balls locked up separately from your bat and away from moisture and heat.
* Do not store your bat or balls with valuables that are likely to be stolen.
* Do not store your bat under a bed, mattress or in an unlocked bedroom drawer.
MELTING YOUR RIGHTS AWAY
Methods to lock your bat include the use of one of the following:
* Handle Lock - Handle locks can be purchased for most bats. The lock on the handle makes it impossible to swing the bat until the lock is removed with a key. Never use a handle lock on a the striking-end of a bat. There are no manufacturing standards for handle locks-be sure to choose a sturdy, well made model.
* Padlock - Putting a padlock around the "handle" makes it difficult to swing. This method is unreliable and does not work for all bats.
* Cable lock - A bat will not swing when a cable lock is used to stop the bat from swinging, or when the cable is fed through a hole in the bat. The cable can also be locked around a heavy object that won't move so that the bat cannot be taken.
* Bat Safe - A bat safe or lock box provides the additional advantage of keeping bats out of sight. To be effective they must be made of sturdy, hard to penetrate materials such as heavy gauge steal and have a strong locking mechanism.
People own bats for several reasons-for hunting, for target practice or other sports, and/or for self defense.
But no matter why you own a bat, bat ownership is a serious and full-time responsibility. Almost as many people die from bat swings each year as die from automobile accidents. The decision to own a bat should be made carefully and with an understanding of how the decision could affect your own well-being and that of your family and community.
Should you decide to become a bat owner, protect yourself and those you love. As many as half of bat deaths and injuries and much bat theft can be prevented by practicing safe bat ownership and storage.
** The above material is available in a brochure through the CTSBV.
If you would like more information, please read "A World Without Guns and the following.
Criminologist Don B. Kates and law professor Dan Polsby succinctly summed up the folly and dangers of civilian disarmament in Vol. 75 of the Washington University Law Quarterly (1997): "It is not in fact true that a world without guns must be a world without violence. Nonviolence was not the characteristic state of the world before there were guns, and it is not the characteristic state of the world now in places where access to guns is practically or legally restricted."
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Able in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart." TESTIMONY OF DARRELL SCOTT FATHER OF TWO VICTIMS OF COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING LITTLETON, COLORADO and A Columbine Dad's Words.
Three Baltimore Teens charged with First Degree Murder (for beating a sleeping homeless man to death with a baseball bat) after one bragged to his girlfriend about "bum stomping." "These kids don't consider clubbing someone with a baseball bat 'violence.'"
See if you can break down this logic "I'm not sure why gun violence is worse than knife violence or baseball bat violence ... Conclusion: The more gun control laws are passed, the more law-abiding citizens will be at the mercy of violent criminals." "There's no such thing as gun violence any more as a such thing at baseball bat violence, car violence, or any other type of violence. It's called a crime. The crook did the crime, not the gun".
Why I Love Guns: "Guns in the hands of private citizens are the best means for defense of home and family against criminals, and for restraining the tyrannical tendencies of government." How the British maximize crime ("a person's chances of being mugged in London are 6 times higher than in New York City... Government created a hapless, passive citizenry, then took upon itself the impossible task of protecting it. Its failure could not be more flagrant.")
"CBS News reportproclaimed Great Britain 'one of the most violent urban societies in the Western world.' ... Defensive gun ownership is entirely illegal [in Britain], and considered an insult to the government, since it implies that the government cannot keep the peace. Thus, in one recent notorious case, an elderly man who had been repeatedly burglarized, and had received no meaningful assistance from the police, shot a pair of career burglars who had broken into the man's home. The man was sentenced to life in prison."
The Human Cost of Victim Disarmament - Death by "Gun Control"
Remember the slaughter in in Tianamin Square? The CHINESE PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE GUNS
"Guns may kill by thousands or tens of thousands, but genocide and ethic cleansing slaughter by the millions and tens of millions, and they can only be instituted effectively against a disarmed population."
"Mugabe has set about killing and terrorizing white landowners, and promising their land to his supporters."
Send an email to Mark R. Ferran. We invite you to visit Mr. Ferran's other writings.
Sept. 25, 2002
~ Afterwords ~
From: Farhad Manjoo (of Salon Magazine)
To: Mark Ferran
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
12:47 PM
Subject: RE: We Must Stop Baseball Bat Violence!
This is sort of an off-the-cuff response, but aren't you missing something key: baseball bats have a purpose other than killing (i.e., baseball), while guns are designed (no?) to inflict damage upon living beings? You'll agree that guns do kill more people than baseball bats, right?
FM
From: Mark Ferran
To: Farhad Manjoo (of Salon Magazine)
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Dear Mr. Manjoo, of Salon Magazine:
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I believe that the only reason that (today) guns are used to unlawfully "kill more people than baseball bats," is that those among the people who would choose to kill without justification (i.e., criminals) find it more practical to use a gun. But, it is also more practical for the would-be victim to defend him or herself with a gun, than with a baseball bat. Take away all guns from such criminals (if you can) and their intended victims, and there will be MORE BURGLARIES, MORE ROBBERIES AND MORE MURDERS in net, but of course, more of these crimes will be committed with baseball Bats, knives, screw-drivers, cars, battery acid in water-guns, etc. HUMANS WILL INVENT THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO COMMIT THE ACTS THE CHOOSE TO COMMIT. The invention of Guns did not increase the ability or propensity of Humans to commit crimes. Do you remember the ancient story of the Priest (Judge) and the Levite (Attorney) who walked past the Robbed Man? There were no Guns back then, but there were Robbers, and therefore, Robberies. Back then, people did not travel without necessity and Caravans (small armies of armed merchants) were invented to enable commerce, and even back then there were Leaders who were indifferent to the suffering and victimization of others.
A gun is a metal tube that contains an expanding gas that propels and ejects a metal projectile (bullet). The bullet will eventually hit something (e.g., the ground, a tree, a person, a vehicle, etc.). What it hits depends on what is there, and upon the direction the gun is pointed at the time it is fired. The Location of the Firing of the Gun and the Direction that it is Pointing are ordinarily within the CONTROL OF THE HUMAN holding it. In this respect, a Gun with Bullet and a Bat with Ball are very similar. A Bat can be used to propel a projectile (ball) at a target, sometimes with as much energy as a bullet from a gun- but usually with less accuracy. Both a Baseball bat, and a gun (a metal tube) can be swung to strike an object or person. (There is a famous US Supreme Court case in which a man was killed by being struck over the head with a shotgun. The gun was used as a club, with a fatal result). Your argument that "baseball bats have a purpose other than killing (i.e., baseball)" is very ironic. I am quite sure that the Bat was originally invented by humans as A WEAPON (e.g., THE CLUB). A bat is a specialized STICK having more mass at one end than the other. Bats were invented for the same purposes that guns were invented- TO KILL animals (hunting) and humans (in defense or offense). And, Guns, like bats, have recreational purposes (targets, skeet, trap shooting, hunting, Olympics). The usefulness of a Bat for purposes of recreation probably came about when a band of primitive humans were sitting around, quite bored, AFTER bashing in the heads of their enemies and raping their wives, discussing what to do next while feasting on their food.
I would expect that the precursor of Baseball was the use of a Club to strike and propel the severed Head of a conquered enemy. In that period, Bats certainly killed "more people than" guns did. Then thousands of years later, a game like Nine-Pins (bowling) was invented, probably also using the head of an enemy to strike the upright clubs. (As I understand it, the after-game in the Aztec version of Soccer was also played with Human Heads.) Then, hundreds of years later, "Baseball" was invented. But, the fundamental utility of a Bat AS A WEAPON is unchanged, which is realized by any person who chooses to commit a crime (without a gun) and thinks with a human brain for a few seconds about alternative tools. Humans are predators and, like any other predators, they act when they have an opportunity. The Weakness and Defenselessness of other humans is opportunity. What The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is actually working to accomplish is the return of the Human Species to the level of primitive barbarism that existed rampant across the world before the invention of guns, except now under the domination of a Police State. Anyone who seeks to stop "Gun Violence" by incidentally dis-arming law-abiding people, is aiding and abetting and facilitating the commission of Robbery, Burglary, and Murder. That is morally wicked. I am simply trying to alert people who profess a narrow desire to stop "gun violence" to look ahead to the probable and natural consequences of their failure to recognize that "violence" comes from Humans, not from Guns nor from any other Human Invention. You'll agree that if all privately owned guns are eliminated, Bats will "kill more people than" guns, right? (Or do you expect that Government-owned guns will do more killing?)
Regards,
Mark R. Ferran BSEE scl JD mcl
Sept. 10, 2002
http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=4082
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Mark R. Ferran, BSEE
BENNETT: JEFFREY BENNETT
A Message from the Coalition to Stop Bat Violence. (Formerly known as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence).
Setting: The Year 2020, six months after the last privately-owned gun was found and destroyed. We have finally made All Americans (including intruders) Safe from Gun Violence in Americans' Homes. But we must continue our struggle to make All Americans safe from Violence in homes and businesses, and on the streets.
"Adolpho Hernandez was executed today for the Sept. 30, 1988, robbery and murder of 69-year-old Elizabeth Alvarado who was beaten to death with a baseball bat bat inside her Lubbock, Texas, home." ("Elizabeth's family was again devastated one year later, when Elizabeth's granddaughter, Melissa Ann Garcia, was raped and stabbed to death by Texas death row inmate Jack Wade Clark."
It was proved years ago that Bats are simply not effective for self-defense against gun violence, as illustrated by cases like (Pennsylvania shopkeeper armed only with "a nail-studded baseball bat" (i.e., a mace) is shot and killed while trying to defend the life of a family friend involved in a "gun battle.")
Fortunately, No Guns are involved in heinous crimes today. So, Baseball Bats have become statistically more effective and more popular among those people (particularly homeschoolers and other separatists) who think they have a right to defend themselves. But now something must be done about proliferating Bat Violence!
Roland "Bud" Scoville was beaten with a baseball bat outside his bait and tackle shop in Auburn, NY.
Marvin (Charles) Prater, Robbed and Killed by Baseball Bat.
Man Beaten With Baseball Bat, Co-Worker Charged with Attempted Murder. Man Beaten With Baseball Bat
This page Contains the Image of: One Dead Man, One Pedophile, and At Least One cold-blooded Baseball Bat-Owning Murderer who used the baseball bat to break open the skull of the dead man. Can you recognize the baseball bat owner by looking at the faces? The Death of Vincent Chin - murdered by a Racially Motivated Baseball Bat MONSTERS KILLED BOY OVER BUCK in New York City
"The sound of the blow was variously described by the observers as a popping or cracking noise, or the sound of a baseball bat hitting a ball. ... the victim's death resulted from being struck in the head with a baseball bat intentionally wielded by the defendant with great force. We are convinced that a rational factfinder could have found defendant guilty of intentional second-degree murder."
15-year-old chased and bashed with an aluminum baseball bat in New York City
A "perceived gay" man was hit several times in the head with a baseball bat.
Bank robbed with "display" of Bat.
It was not Guns that caused these deviant and criminal acts. Guns Don't Kill People, any more, since now only the Government has Guns. See. e.g., "Sheriff's deputy Friday morning shot and killed a Lakeland man, who police say threatened him with a baseball bat during a drug raid.". (Saturday, July 27, 2002)
and
"how can 8 officers justify shooting a 60 year old guy armed with a baseball bat?"
Every incident of Bat Violence above was the fault of irresponsible baseball bat-manufacturers! Due to the marketing and explosive growth of the Bat industry since the abolition of private gun-ownership, manufacturers must be held accountable for the violence they have caused. They must be sued and legislated out of existence! They must be sued and legislated out of existence! Bat violence is caused by bats in every place where manufacturers sell bats, even Japan! and "Last year, one 17-year-old boy bludgeoned passengers at a trendy Tokyo shopping district with a baseball bat after a fight with his father; another beat his mother to death with a metal bat".
And in Brisbane, Australia, a man was bashed to death while seated in chair, receiving at least seven blows to the head with a bat. A Judge described the murder as savage and carried out with "callous indifference to human suffering". The Murderer, who pleaded guilty said, "who gives a *" before being led out of court. Two other murders committed by bats in Australia.
Perhaps the UN should get involved with Bat Control, as it did with Guns. Read of many proven methods for National and International Bat Control.
Meanwhile, here in the United States, irresponsible Bat manufacturers are still promoting new lines of "Assault" Bats "intended to hit a baseball faster and harder than the traditional wooden bat" with full knowledge of their propensity to cause serious injury or death. "Swing Batter Batter"
Accordingly, we propose the public distribution of the following brochure (adopted from a successful but obsolete brochure. We Must Stop Bat Violence!
SAFE
Bat Ownership
SAFE
Bat Storage
Safety Essentials for Responsible Bat Owners
Safe Bat Ownership
Responsible bat ownership means learning and practicing behaviors that will help prevent needless injury, death and theft.
* Record the serial number of your bat.
* Check with your local police department to learn the laws about carrying or transporting bats outside of your home.
* Take a bat safety course and learn how to use and care for your bat. Through a good safety course you will learn the parts of the bat, the safety features, how to safely care for a bat, and how to safely handle, aim and swing a bat.
* Practice safe bat storage.
* Do not allow children or teens to handle or use a bat without parental or professional supervision.
* Know your bat's standard safety features and use them!
* Always handle your bat as if it were lethal.
* Uncase your bat only when you are ready to swing it.
* Clean and inspect the bat regularly and carefully.
* Check your bat twice before you clean it to be sure it is locked.
* When cleaning your bat, never leave the area. It should be in your view at all times.
* Do not try to fix a bat yourself if it breaks.
* Dispose of balls properly. Contact your local police for assistance in disposing of balls - DO NOT THROW THEM in the trash.
* Never show off with your bat or talk about it at a party.
Safe Bat Storage
It is your responsibility to keep your bat out of the hands of those who, deliberately or accidentally, may misuse it.
* Lock your bat. Bats should be stored securely locked out of sight or reach to minimize the risk that they will be used by unauthorized others such as children, teens, burglars, or the mentally ill or emotionally disturbed.
* Keep the keys to the lock(s) that secure your bat(s) on your key chain and with you at all times. Keep keys out of reach of children and teens.
* Remember that when an automatic-swinging or semi-automatic-swinging bat is left alone in a room, there still may be a ball in the room. Check the room to be sure it is empty.
* Store balls locked up separately from your bat and away from moisture and heat.
* Do not store your bat or balls with valuables that are likely to be stolen.
* Do not store your bat under a bed, mattress or in an unlocked bedroom drawer.
MELTING YOUR RIGHTS AWAY
Methods to lock your bat include the use of one of the following:
* Handle Lock - Handle locks can be purchased for most bats. The lock on the handle makes it impossible to swing the bat until the lock is removed with a key. Never use a handle lock on a the striking-end of a bat. There are no manufacturing standards for handle locks-be sure to choose a sturdy, well made model.
* Padlock - Putting a padlock around the "handle" makes it difficult to swing. This method is unreliable and does not work for all bats.
* Cable lock - A bat will not swing when a cable lock is used to stop the bat from swinging, or when the cable is fed through a hole in the bat. The cable can also be locked around a heavy object that won't move so that the bat cannot be taken.
* Bat Safe - A bat safe or lock box provides the additional advantage of keeping bats out of sight. To be effective they must be made of sturdy, hard to penetrate materials such as heavy gauge steal and have a strong locking mechanism.
People own bats for several reasons-for hunting, for target practice or other sports, and/or for self defense.
But no matter why you own a bat, bat ownership is a serious and full-time responsibility. Almost as many people die from bat swings each year as die from automobile accidents. The decision to own a bat should be made carefully and with an understanding of how the decision could affect your own well-being and that of your family and community.
Should you decide to become a bat owner, protect yourself and those you love. As many as half of bat deaths and injuries and much bat theft can be prevented by practicing safe bat ownership and storage.
** The above material is available in a brochure through the CTSBV.
If you would like more information, please read "A World Without Guns and the following.
Criminologist Don B. Kates and law professor Dan Polsby succinctly summed up the folly and dangers of civilian disarmament in Vol. 75 of the Washington University Law Quarterly (1997): "It is not in fact true that a world without guns must be a world without violence. Nonviolence was not the characteristic state of the world before there were guns, and it is not the characteristic state of the world now in places where access to guns is practically or legally restricted."
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Able in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart." TESTIMONY OF DARRELL SCOTT FATHER OF TWO VICTIMS OF COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING LITTLETON, COLORADO and A Columbine Dad's Words.
Three Baltimore Teens charged with First Degree Murder (for beating a sleeping homeless man to death with a baseball bat) after one bragged to his girlfriend about "bum stomping." "These kids don't consider clubbing someone with a baseball bat 'violence.'"
See if you can break down this logic "I'm not sure why gun violence is worse than knife violence or baseball bat violence ... Conclusion: The more gun control laws are passed, the more law-abiding citizens will be at the mercy of violent criminals." "There's no such thing as gun violence any more as a such thing at baseball bat violence, car violence, or any other type of violence. It's called a crime. The crook did the crime, not the gun".
Why I Love Guns: "Guns in the hands of private citizens are the best means for defense of home and family against criminals, and for restraining the tyrannical tendencies of government." How the British maximize crime ("a person's chances of being mugged in London are 6 times higher than in New York City... Government created a hapless, passive citizenry, then took upon itself the impossible task of protecting it. Its failure could not be more flagrant.")
"CBS News reportproclaimed Great Britain 'one of the most violent urban societies in the Western world.' ... Defensive gun ownership is entirely illegal [in Britain], and considered an insult to the government, since it implies that the government cannot keep the peace. Thus, in one recent notorious case, an elderly man who had been repeatedly burglarized, and had received no meaningful assistance from the police, shot a pair of career burglars who had broken into the man's home. The man was sentenced to life in prison."
The Human Cost of Victim Disarmament - Death by "Gun Control"
Remember the slaughter in in Tianamin Square? The CHINESE PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE GUNS
"Guns may kill by thousands or tens of thousands, but genocide and ethic cleansing slaughter by the millions and tens of millions, and they can only be instituted effectively against a disarmed population."
"Mugabe has set about killing and terrorizing white landowners, and promising their land to his supporters."
Send an email to Mark R. Ferran. We invite you to visit Mr. Ferran's other writings.
Sept. 25, 2002
~ Afterwords ~
From: Farhad Manjoo (of Salon Magazine)
To: Mark Ferran
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
12:47 PM
Subject: RE: We Must Stop Baseball Bat Violence!
This is sort of an off-the-cuff response, but aren't you missing something key: baseball bats have a purpose other than killing (i.e., baseball), while guns are designed (no?) to inflict damage upon living beings? You'll agree that guns do kill more people than baseball bats, right?
FM
From: Mark Ferran
To: Farhad Manjoo (of Salon Magazine)
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Dear Mr. Manjoo, of Salon Magazine:
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I believe that the only reason that (today) guns are used to unlawfully "kill more people than baseball bats," is that those among the people who would choose to kill without justification (i.e., criminals) find it more practical to use a gun. But, it is also more practical for the would-be victim to defend him or herself with a gun, than with a baseball bat. Take away all guns from such criminals (if you can) and their intended victims, and there will be MORE BURGLARIES, MORE ROBBERIES AND MORE MURDERS in net, but of course, more of these crimes will be committed with baseball Bats, knives, screw-drivers, cars, battery acid in water-guns, etc. HUMANS WILL INVENT THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO COMMIT THE ACTS THE CHOOSE TO COMMIT. The invention of Guns did not increase the ability or propensity of Humans to commit crimes. Do you remember the ancient story of the Priest (Judge) and the Levite (Attorney) who walked past the Robbed Man? There were no Guns back then, but there were Robbers, and therefore, Robberies. Back then, people did not travel without necessity and Caravans (small armies of armed merchants) were invented to enable commerce, and even back then there were Leaders who were indifferent to the suffering and victimization of others.
A gun is a metal tube that contains an expanding gas that propels and ejects a metal projectile (bullet). The bullet will eventually hit something (e.g., the ground, a tree, a person, a vehicle, etc.). What it hits depends on what is there, and upon the direction the gun is pointed at the time it is fired. The Location of the Firing of the Gun and the Direction that it is Pointing are ordinarily within the CONTROL OF THE HUMAN holding it. In this respect, a Gun with Bullet and a Bat with Ball are very similar. A Bat can be used to propel a projectile (ball) at a target, sometimes with as much energy as a bullet from a gun- but usually with less accuracy. Both a Baseball bat, and a gun (a metal tube) can be swung to strike an object or person. (There is a famous US Supreme Court case in which a man was killed by being struck over the head with a shotgun. The gun was used as a club, with a fatal result). Your argument that "baseball bats have a purpose other than killing (i.e., baseball)" is very ironic. I am quite sure that the Bat was originally invented by humans as A WEAPON (e.g., THE CLUB). A bat is a specialized STICK having more mass at one end than the other. Bats were invented for the same purposes that guns were invented- TO KILL animals (hunting) and humans (in defense or offense). And, Guns, like bats, have recreational purposes (targets, skeet, trap shooting, hunting, Olympics). The usefulness of a Bat for purposes of recreation probably came about when a band of primitive humans were sitting around, quite bored, AFTER bashing in the heads of their enemies and raping their wives, discussing what to do next while feasting on their food.
I would expect that the precursor of Baseball was the use of a Club to strike and propel the severed Head of a conquered enemy. In that period, Bats certainly killed "more people than" guns did. Then thousands of years later, a game like Nine-Pins (bowling) was invented, probably also using the head of an enemy to strike the upright clubs. (As I understand it, the after-game in the Aztec version of Soccer was also played with Human Heads.) Then, hundreds of years later, "Baseball" was invented. But, the fundamental utility of a Bat AS A WEAPON is unchanged, which is realized by any person who chooses to commit a crime (without a gun) and thinks with a human brain for a few seconds about alternative tools. Humans are predators and, like any other predators, they act when they have an opportunity. The Weakness and Defenselessness of other humans is opportunity. What The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is actually working to accomplish is the return of the Human Species to the level of primitive barbarism that existed rampant across the world before the invention of guns, except now under the domination of a Police State. Anyone who seeks to stop "Gun Violence" by incidentally dis-arming law-abiding people, is aiding and abetting and facilitating the commission of Robbery, Burglary, and Murder. That is morally wicked. I am simply trying to alert people who profess a narrow desire to stop "gun violence" to look ahead to the probable and natural consequences of their failure to recognize that "violence" comes from Humans, not from Guns nor from any other Human Invention. You'll agree that if all privately owned guns are eliminated, Bats will "kill more people than" guns, right? (Or do you expect that Government-owned guns will do more killing?)
Regards,
Mark R. Ferran BSEE scl JD mcl
Sept. 10, 2002
http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=4082
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878