Common sense gun control in Honduras

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jJuAVqKu4sdgWan3OpUgPgvWa9XA

Honduras regime seeks to disarm citizens ahead of polls
(AFP) – 10 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA — The Honduran de facto regime on Friday ordered citizens to turn in their weapons in a bid to avert violence around disputed presidential elections to be held at the end of the month...

...The interim regime led by Roberto Micheletti said it would disarm citizens who risked disrupting the elections in a nation where violent street gangs operate with many weapons left over from decades of civil wars in the region.

"We've agreed a general disarmament from November 23 so that no one will harm the lives of others or provoke other actions against the electoral process," Press Minister Pineda Ponce told local television.

The disarmament would include temporary confiscations from people who held weapon permits, Ponce said....

Only common sense:

It's a lot easier to commit an El Mozote-style massacre, or make 'subversives' disappear if the victims lack the means to resist.

Other discussion here:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4155309

http://www.democraticunderground.org/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x26714

[spin]

1. Those "temporary confiscations" might just turn permament...

I bet they told the citizens that if they registered their firearms there would never be confiscation. The registration data would only be used to solve crimes.

You can always believe your government. It has your best interests at heart.

[safeinOhio]

2. They are going to have

Blackwater come in and take em.

[anonymous171]

3. Fascists dislike armed citizens

[DonP]

11. So do way too many people around here. ntxt

[taurus145]

13. Too true. n/t

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. This was also done in the former Yugoslavia, prior to ethnic cleansing

According to DUer Euromutt:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=230314#230327

...I got a job at the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. My first job was dissecting witness statements for who was where and when, and did what to whom, and putting that information into a database so the investigators and prosecutors cuold easily find witness statements that supported whichever case they were trying to make. So I read a lot of descriptions of ethnic cleansing, especially from rural areas of Bosnia in 1992, and there was a trend that a week or two prior to a "cleansing" taking place, some local cops and nationalist party members of the ethnic group doing the cleansing would do the rounds of households with registered firearms (shotguns, hunting rifles, the occasional handgun) and confiscate them "to prevent them from falling into the hands of subversives." Of course, it was really so that when the paramilitaries arrived, nobody would be able to shoot back....

[old mark]

5. Many people here advocate "common sense" gun control - my verson of that is

simple: I keep my guns, you mind your own business.
Common sense prevails.
rec.
mark

[rd_kent]

7. The best common sense yet.

[PavePusher]

6. I suspect a massive increase in "tragic boating accidents" in Honduras... n/t

[Euromutt]

8. Given the Micheletti government's performance thus far, this is does not inspire confidence

Let's see, Zelaya was ousted by a military coup, after which Micheletti was appointed president by Congress (which, as here, is not how it's supposed to go; separation of powers and all that), and when Zelaya snuck back into the country, Micheletti in effect declared martial law, shut down a radio and a TV station sympathetic to Zelaya, and expelled four envoys from the OAS; the police and army have brutally crushed pro-Zelaya protests, killing at least three people, possibly seventeen more, and carrying out at least 200 beatings. Micheletti may not exactly be a Pinochet, but he some major legitimacy issues, and disarming the civilian population might serve to prevent unrest during the elections, but it seems just as plausible that it's intended to make unrest easier to deal with after the elections end in a surprise win for Micheletti (Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the National party is leading in the polls).

[jeepnstein]

9. This will end well.

Oh yeah, sure everyone is going to turn in their guns. The criminals and gangs will probably be in the front of the line. Oh, and anyone who intends to violently contest the election, well, you just know they're going to hand them over.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. OK, can we consider the Honduran coup regime evil NOW? -nt

[SteveM]

12. Whew! Common scents (nt)

[Tejas]

14. Wonder what the Brady Bunch has to say about this? - nt