<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 at 11:18, The Avantguardian via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10px" dir="ltr"> <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px">Quoting Stathis Papaioannou:</span><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><div style="padding:0px 0px 0px 1em;margin:1em 0px;border-left:1px solid rgb(102,0,102);min-height:12px;color:rgb(102,0,102);border-top-color:rgb(102,0,102);border-right-color:rgb(102,0,102);border-bottom-color:rgb(102,0,102);background-color:rgb(238,238,238);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px">If a policeman tries to arrest you for something that you think is<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px">unconstitutional, you don?t have the right to shoot him, or even threaten<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px">to shoot him. You will likely be punished if you shoot him or threaten to<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px">shoot him even if it is subsequently agreed in court (in a case separate<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px">from your criminal trial) that the policeman was acting on laws that were<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px">unconstitutional.<br style="padding:0px;margin:0px"></div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px">An armed American might not have the explicit right to shoot a policeman for violating his constitutional rights, but he certainly does have the option to do so. That option alone might prevent the policeman from barging into that American's home to see if he has anything he might want to take, demand free room and board from him, or otherwise excessively abuse police powers. Both the American citizen and the policeman have to deal with the consequences of their actions. By being armed, you can make sure those consequences are evident to the policeman. Armed citizenry keep the police honest.</span><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px">Ever since Australians gave up their gun rights, the government can now just arrest their journalists and treat them like criminals, if they write or say the wrong thing. Can you imagine if Trump had that power here in America?</span><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-15/abc-raids-australian-federal-police-press-freedom/11309810" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(54,82,93);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-15/abc-raids-australian-federal-police-press-freedom/11309810</a><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><br style="padding:0px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Menlo,Consolas,"Lucida Console","DejaVu Sans Mono",monospace;font-size:12px">Stuart LaForge</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Do you really think the Australian Federal Police would not have pursued the journalists if they feared they had guns? Do you think that the US Government might have not have pursued Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning if they had guns?</div></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Stathis Papaioannou</div></div>