>> In free and democratic countries like the one I "come from" the 
>> vast
>> majority of citizens are happy to forgo the right to [bare and] 
>> furry arms
>> without a licence as we are not overly fearful that our government 
>> may
>> morph into a repressive dictatorship.

> And what makes the people in your government so different than those 
> in
> other governments such as some of those in South

[sic]

> America that turn into
> repressive dictatorships?

I'm not sure that anyone knows what it is that does it. It could be 
that we are or purer and more direct British stock than the eg 
USAites, who seemed to have a similar immunity for some while, but it 
appears to be wearing off. Mind you, it may just be a matter of time 
as we only got going about 1840 (although there's a longish early 
innovator lead in before that), so maybe in 100+ years we'll be in the 
same straits as others.

It may be the very high level of UV in our environment, and it may be 
the excellent proximity to bracing salt sea air - nowhere in God's Own 
Country [tm] is more than 60 miles from the sea.

It may be the challenge posed by our antipodean brothers just across 
the pond who seem to suffer from an equal does of egalitarian 
tolerance and bonhomie across the board.

> Are your fellow countrymen genetically
> "better" in some way that assures you that they won't develop the 
> greed
> and lust for power that afflicts most of mankind from time to time?

That might be the reason, but it seems less likely. You could argue 
that perhaps the higher initial representation of Irish bloodlines 
(thanks to the putative potato famine) and hardy convict stock makes 
genetic preponderance a factor.

We also however have the cunning plan of running our armed forces at 
such a level that if we got ALL the nations boy together at once 
they'd do a fair job of holding the army off while we got the farmers 
mobilised. We've also scrapped our airforce strike arm entirely 
(available to you in mothballed state real-cheap if you want it) 
because it used to annoy our Prime Minister.

NZers, when they DO get into action make the best soldiers in the 
world. According to Rommel anyway. If you'd ever been on the receiving 
end of an All-Black scrum (indiscernible from a military engagement) 
or had to face the Maori battalion with fixed bayonets, then you'd be 
more aware of why his opinions are possibly factual.

> The Right to Bear Arms (or Right to Arm Bears) is just a part of a
> multi-faceted defense the US has against the rise of a repressive
> dictatorship.

Fortunately we don't have a major problem in this area. The only bears 
we have are all well enclosed on our zoological gardens and even if 
they've did decide to swap such posh surrounds for a life on the road 
they are largely so old and tired that I doubt that we'd need more 
than a dozen grandmothers or our national netball team to deal with 
them. (If you have never been on the receiving end of our national 
netball team them be very careful about making snide remarks about 
them - just ask the Ozzies).

>The overall defense is not working real well right now
> (the Patriot Act, etc) but if things were to ever get really 
> repressive,
> at least we have a fighting chance to avoid tyrannical repression.

Whereas our approach seems to be working exceedingly well. So maybe 
you need to learn a lesson from us, whatever it may be.

Mind you, we do seem to have a bit of a blip at present. The Prime 
Minister, Ms Helen Clark, is entirely up to holding her whole cabinet 
at bay with her left arm while she harangues the opposition into 
cringing submission verbally, leaving her right arm free to strong arm 
the country. The armed forces are no match for her. She has the army 
eating out of her hand with the buying of far too many flaky fault 
prone Canadian get-stuck-in-embarrassing-places AT(allegedly but not 
actually)V's, which she gave them instead of tanks, she's taken the 
AirForce's strike arm away as a lesson to them and they're scared she 
may take their antisubmarine capability as well, and the Navy 
understand the threat and are keeping quiet while they still have a 
few frigates left. But we reckon that the Waikato farmers are an easy 
match for her if it ever comes to that. (After all, where do you think 
the All Blacks get their back line from?). .




        Russell


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