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Suppose you were fond of books

 Suppose you were fond of books. 

 You liked their leather bindings, their fancy endpapers, the
>way they speak to you of other times and places, the way they feel in
your hand. 

You even liked the way they smell. 

 Naturally you were aware that books are dangerous. They give
people ideas. Over the long, sad course of history, they've resulted in
the slaughter of millions -- books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Das Kapital,
Mein Kampf, even the Bible -- but you had too much intelligence, too
>much regard for the right of other people to read, write, think
>whatever they please, to blame the books themselves. 

 Now suppose somebody came along who agreed with you: books
are dangerous -- and something oughta be done about it! Nothing you
couldn't live with: numbers could be stamped inside them, a different
number, not just in each kind of book, each title or edition -- but in
each and every individual book. 

 "We can keep track of 'em better that way -- it'll help get
back if they're stolen." 

 But wait .... Isn't the right to freedom of expression, the
right to create, exchange, and collect books -- without a trace of
government harassment -- to read, write, and think whatever you please,
>supposed to be guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution? No matter who thinks it's wrong? No matter how "sensible"
>their arguments may sound for taking that right away? 

 You tried to defend your rights, but nobody listened. You
appealed to the media; they were even more dependent on the Bill of
Rights than you were, and American journalism always gloried in its
self-appointed role as watchdog over the rights of the individual. But
the sad truth was, that during its long, self- congratulatory history,
it was more like a cur caught bloody- muzzled time after time, savaging
the flocks it had been trusted to protect. 

 You were alone. You insisted that books don't kill people,
people kill people. They laughed and told you that people who read
books kill people. 
>
 Time passed .... Still they weren't satisfied. They wanted
the serial numbers written down in record books. Then they wanted your
name written down beside the numbers, along with your address, your
driver's license number, your age, your race, your sex: "'Cause we
gotta right to know who's reading all these books!" 
>
 Soon they were demanding that bookstores be licensed. They
forbade you to buy books by mail or in another state and required that
your dealer report you if you bought more than one book in a five day
period. They forbade you to buy more than one book a month. They
demanded that you wait five days, a week, three weeks before you could
pick up a book you'd already paid for -- at a store subject to
unannounced warrantless inspections and punitive closure by
heavily-armed government agents. In Massachussetts and New Jersey, the
mere possession of a book meant an automatic year in jail. At one point
they offered to spend tax money to buy your books: "You've got too
many. This is a purely voluntary measure -- for the time being." 

 Now they want to confiscate any of your books they think are
too long: "No honest citizen needs a book with that many pages!" 

Your taxes will be spent to burn them, and somehow you have a
feeling that it's just the beginning, that some dark midnight, no
matter how peaceable or agreeable or law-abiding you are, you're going
to hear that knock on your door ... 

Yes, books are dangerous. They start holy wars, revolutions,
and make people dissatisfied with their lives. 

 But this is ridiculous! 

 Is it a nightmare? Another Gulag horror story? A bloodsoaked
page from the history of fascism? No, it's just the commonplace
oppression people suffer every day when they feel about guns the way
you feel about books. 

 Okay, maybe that feeling's hard to understand. But just try
justifying your own love of books to a Reverand Donald Wildmon or an
Ayatollah Khomeini. The very requirement that you must, in violation of
>your basic human rights, will make you inarticulate with rage. 

 Gun owners laugh at the notion of human rights, because they
have none. 

 Guns are dangerous. Like books. Like books, the right to
create, exchange, and collect them without a trace of government
harassment, is supposed to be guaranteed. No matter who thinks it's
wrong. No matter how "sensible" their arguments may sound for taking
your rights away. 

 So what makes you think your books are any safer than your
neighbor's guns? Whether you like books or guns, the issue's the same:
WHEN ANYBODY'S RIGHTS ARE THREATENED, EVERYBODY'S RIGHTS ARE THREATENED. 

contributed by:
 L. Neil Smith lneil@ezlink.com  

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