CONTROL OF PEOPLE IS THE REAL GOAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190396
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CONTROL OF PEOPLE IS THE REAL GOAL
NEVER BEFORE has Virginia so hastily debated the issues of gun control and crime control. What most people on either side of the gun-control issue do not realize is that it is not about crime control - it's about people-control.
Our elected officials are not stupid people. If they were, they would not have found and exploited the circumstances that led to their election. They also know the facts about guns and crime control, which show that the two have nothing to do with each other. Why then do they jump in the media spotlight and preach that gun control is the way to control crime? It is merely a method to prey on the feelings of the unknowing masses to further their ultimate goal - people-control.
In the last decade, we have witnessed the working class working longer, harder hours with less free time and have watched their benefits eroded. We have seen increasing numbers of people pushed out of their homes and into the streets. A lot of this suffering is due to the greed of the rich and ruling class. Apparently, those in power have reached the conclusion that firearms in the hands of the lower classes are a potential threat to their tighter control.
It is time that law-abiding people realize that any restrictions on their firearms' ownership is nothing but a step toward eliminating this ownership - and who knows what other rights after that. When Gov. Wilder talks about the need to restrict every citizen's gun ownership, remember that he and the rest of the rich and ruling class will have their security forces and fortified mansions to protect themselves. But what will you have?
Perhaps one of our country's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, said it best: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." SANDRA C. HAMMOND ROANOKE

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB