RE: Public Relations Feedback (from Human Re

[Jean-Francois Avon <jf_avon@citenet.net>]

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Thanks for your prompt reply.

While your intentions are in appearances quite laudable, you forgot 
to consider the terrible unintended consequences that will come as 
a consequence of giving such a "blank check" moral sanction to 
whomever might prey on it as an excuse to execute private goals.

The old saying "there are many ways to skin a cat" always apply.

There are plenty of laws that already makes it a crime to commit 
all sorts of violent actions, regardless of the choosen tool of 
coercion.

Let me explain the danger of laws specifically aimed at firearms:

1) it removes the presumption of innocence simply based upon 
ownership of an inanimate object.  

1-A) By doing so, it declares it rightfull for a govt to consider 
it's citizens guilty upon proved innocent.  By doing this, it 
grants a moral sanction to any wannabe tyrant that would find a 
morally laudable pretext to abuse it's population.

1-B) also, it removes the concept of personnal responsibility from 
human volition and puts it into the mere factual realm (possession 
of a given item turns you helplesslessly into an evil entity).

2) it violates the concept of property rights.  Property rights are 
only a derivative of the right to life. If you have a right to 
life, then, you must have a right to the product of your life, i.e. 
you must respect property rights as a full equivalent at the right 
to life.  Note here that the "right to life" is not a blank check 
that permits claiming the life of others but rather, simply the 
right not to be deprived of one's life, i.e. the right to be left 
alone (as in "laissez-faire").  A negation of property rights is 
nothing but a disguized negation of the right to live an uncoerced 
life.  Negating property rights is fully equivalent to condoning 
slavery.


3) historically, the vast majority of abuses on population by their 
govts were made possible by "laudable legislation" that ignored the 
unintended consequences (which tyrants knows very well but deny the 
existence to their grave)

For instance, the German gun control laws were enacted by the 
"liberal" Weimar Republic government that preceded Hitler, and were 
a strong aid to his coming to power -- because they disarmed 
Hitler's opponents, and Hitler's adherents ignored them -- as 
criminals have always ignored gun control laws.   Disarming the 
public is a frequent first step toward dictatorships and genocides.  
Once the disarming is complete, the public is helpless against 
those who have the guns.     

You pretend that you do not want to disarm the public, but you must 
realize that the legislations that are "demanded" grant the moral 
and legal sanction for the govt to do so.  This is EXACTLY what 
happened in Germany, and it would be very naive, in the light of 
4000 years of recorded history, where this phenomenon happened in 
virtually every instances, that it would not eventually happen 
here.  

Thoses who do not study history are condemned to re-live it.

Firearms are NOT a big cause of human drama.  Alternate tools exist 
that will substitute themselves to guns if ever guns gets banned.  
The percentage of HONEST LAW_ABIDING people in any country truly 
dying from firearms ASSAULTS is incredibly small when compared to 
other causes.  Intra-gangs murders are just part of a dangerous 
business and should NOT be included since other means would be used 
anyway if firearms were not available.  Ditto for suicide, as well 
demonstrated by the historical ban of carbon monoxyde gas, which 
had NO long term effect on suicide rates (within three years, 
suicide rate came back to the same level).

So, notwithstanding your "laudable" goals, you

1) attack the tool rather than the true cause of violence (I 
predict a resurgeance of savage pipe bomb attacks if ever gun 
control increases)

2) pander to ideas that are very dangerous if we are to maintain a 
freedom oriented society; the wannaby tyrants must love you...


In the meantime, I will put efforts on a rational boycott of your 
products.  No big TV, no sensationnal stuff, just very strong word 
of mouth, for one reason-able mind to another reason-able mind.

This post DOES reach several thousand people worldwide, mostly in 
the US of A, Kanada, New-Zealand and Australia.  It reaches the 
recreational firearms community (7 millions in the Komradship of 
Kanada and no doubt several hundred millions over the ex-British 
countries), it also reach the free speech community, the economic 
libertarian community and the privacy/encryption technique 
community.


Reason will prevail.

Ciao

Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. (Physics)

Toiling slave of the KolleKtive Komradship of Kanada




Here are a few quotes from famous people...
------------------
"Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It 
is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves" 

	(William Pitt, English statesman and friend of American 
	independence, Speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783.)
------------------

"The only power any government has is to crack down on crime and
criminals. Well, when there aren't  enough criminals, then one
makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it 
becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants 
a nation of law-abiding citizens. What's there in that for anyone. 
But just pass the kinds of law that can neither be observed nor 
enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of 
lawbreakers   - and then you can cash in on their guilt."
                                    - Ayn Rand
------------------
Definition:  FASCISM: n.:  a political and economic movement, 
strongly nationalistic, magnifying the rights of the state as 
opposed to those of the individual, in which industry, though 
remaining largely under private ownership, and all administrative
political units, are controlled by a strong central government.

------------------
"One of the ordinary modes by which tyrants accomplish their 
purpose, without resistance, is by disarming the people and making 
it an offense to keep arms".  
                   - Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

------------------
"Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore 
 deprive them of their arms."
                                 -- Aristotle, "Politics"
------------------

   



On Fri, 12 Nov 1999 19:31:55 -0800, levistrauss@levi.com wrote:

>Dear Jean-Francois:
> 
>Thank you for taking the time to write us. Customer feedback
>is very important to us and we appreciate your taking the time
>to express your opinions about this issue.
>
>PAX is a non-profit, anti-violence organization which strives
>to reach youth all over the country by making a difference
>and attaining a society free of gun violence. 
>
>Levi Strauss & Co. supports PAX's goal to bring all Americans
>together to support common sense solutions to the gun violence
>epidemic.  PAX does not seek to ban firearms. It only seeks
>to end firearm violence through measures which the majority
>of Americans, including gun owners, can support.
>
>Levi Strauss & Co. believes that all students should have an
>opportunity to learn in a safe environment free of violence and
>by supporting PAX and their petition, we hope to help put an
>end to gun violence in our schools.
>
>Your views have been registered and we appreciate your taking
>the time to write and express your thoughts about this important 
>issue.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Nathan
>Levi Strauss & Co
>natkur1539229
>
>--------------------< you wrote >--------------------
>FirstName: Jean-Francois
>LastName: Avon
>Email: jf_avon@citenet.net
>
>Comments: Your "anti-firearm violence" campaign is an 
>abomination.  Violence is independent of the tools used and a 
result 
>of a state of mind, itself most of the time the result of a given 
set of 
>basic philosophical premises.
>
>By promoting the idea that guns are intrinsically evil, you 
promote 
>the disarmament of the individuals.
>
>Armed individuals are the ultimate insurance against the 
population 
>being abused by their "governments", those that were granted by 
the 
>same population the monopoly on the use of force.
>
>Historically, governments killed more people than all combined 
>crimes.  They induced the killing of people by creating business 
>made dangerous because they made the business illegal (drug 
traffic, 
>sex workers, and other victimless "crimes" occuring between 
>consenting individuals) and by the direct coercion on their 
>population (conscription, war, etc).
>
>On top of that, the "wealth redistribution schemes" of our highly 
>socialistic govts also violated the sovereignty of the individual 
that 
>slows down the improvement of the standard of living (quality of 
>life).
>
>THe present "population disarmament" movements around the world 
>seems to be led by a group (of which the UN is part) that look 
>forward to turn the population of the planet into a huge servile 
herd 
>of cattle.
>
>Your pushing of their agenda is enough for freedom-loving 
>responsible individuals to engage into an campaign to boycott your 
>product as long as you'll push this enslaving agenda.
>
>We'll take action.  You won't see us doing spectacular actions, 
you 
>won't see us vandalize your business in front of news cameras, you 
>won't see us "demand" (i.e. grant a moral sanction to the legal 
users 
>of coercion for the violating of individual rights) publicly that 
>"something gets done".  We will simply slow down your business by 
>the use of the free market, by the use of Reason, by convincing 
>people on a one to one basis.  As any sales professionnal knows, 
>quiet word of mouth by credible people is the strongest, most 
>powerfull publicity.  We'll make good use of that.
>
>It is ironical that Levi Strauss, which was born out of the gold 
rush, 
>an emblem of the expression of Liberty, courage, entrepreneurship 
>and pursuit of happiness, now turns itself to promoting the 
antithesis 
>of all that.
>
>No regards at all.
>
>Jean-Francois Avon
>toiling slave within the Kollektive Komradship of Kanada
>
>Cc (will reach at the very least 5000 people around the world)
> 
>Sporting Shooters Association of Australia
>Canadian Firearms Digest (National Firearms Association, a 
>Kanadian association)
>National Rifle Association (a Yankee association)
>Neil King list (New Zealand)
>Cypherpunks (around the world)
>Quackgrass (Kanada)
>Laissez-Faire City TImes (international)
>Quebecois Libre (Kanada)
>Patriots on Guard (Kanada)
>Canada Protest Page (Kanada)
>Freedom Party of Ontario (Kanada)
>Paul Richard Offshore financial newsletter (international)
>Montreal's Economic Institute (Kanada)
>various private mailing lists (international)
>personnal contacts (around the world)
>