Friends!

I am making a dispassionate plea for the legalization of home ownership of atomic weapons, based on the freedom to bear arms; the fact that that all radioactive substances are well-contained within the bomb-casing itself (i.e. no leakage); the obvious fact that it's not bombs that kill people, but bombers; and the need for escalation in the war of protection all of us, _all_ of us, find ourselves at the moment.

I do not want to appeal to yours sense of charity or goodwill; these have always been besides the point. But humans were _meant_ to carry weapons; the first tools of man and woman were hand-axes for smiting the enemy, and, were it not for these tools, the most intelligent of our species might already have been killed, tortured, maimed. It is weapons, in other words, that keep us free, giving us the ability to say whatever we please. And as it has been pointed out, over and over again, if it were not for people like me, the rest of you would be enslaved forever. I protect your rights from them, because I _know_ the value of weaponry - ready to use it at a moment's notice, which is sufficient for deterrence.

An atomic bomb represents the absolute deterrent since it is capable of absolute annihilation over a demarcated area. We know from Chernobyl in fact that the effects of radiation are _vastly_ overestimated (everyone has of course moved back), and I have calculated that the total radiation from even a hydrogen bomb is approximately .1% of that which occurred in the _so-called_ nuclear "accident."

Private ownership of atomic weaponry in the United States would give us a competitive edge on others who would take away our freedom! And we cannot assume our armed forces will protect us _everywhere_ in this huge land of ours; the dispersion of weaponry would ensure that we could _fight along with them, tooth and nail._ It was Darwin who pointed out that the strongest among us are those with the will to survive, acquiring atomic weaponry at _almost any cost,_ as guaranteed in our Declaration of Independence (last part, near the signatures).

Remember: It is bombers who kill, not bombs. There is no reason whatsoever, _logical or illogical,_ that advanced weapons should not be made available to the general public. The number of bombs in the _entire United States_ probably amounts to about four or five _demented individuals,_ who could _not_ afford even a handgun, much less something on the order of 100,000 kilotons. So I urge you: Write your congressman (forget the women) or better yet: write the United Nations (United Nations, 1 United Nations Plaza, New York City). If we all do this, both buyers and sellers will emerge out of the darkness, and our government will capitulate to what, after all, is our right and our inheritance.

Thank you.

Pub. May 1999

DRC