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Here in NZ we have the case of a farming community who are so frustrated at the levels of theft they're experiencing, that one of them allegedly took a shot at a burglar.

In Australia, a student ran amok and shot several people at Melbourne's Monash University.

Similar multiple shootings have occured in Europe during recent weeks.

And, in Washington DC USA, there's a sniper who has the nation's capital under siege after shooting nearly a dozen people.

As a result of all this shooting, the Net's newswires, bulletin boards and newsgroups are running hot with reports, debate and argument over the effectiveness of policing and the rights of people to own, carry and use guns.

This is of course, an argument for which their is no definitive answer -- which is the reason that opinions fly so thick and fast.

Not only does the Net act as a vehicle for supporting discussion, it also offers a wealth of information and propaganda for/from both the pro-gun and anti-gun lobbyists.

Readers Say (updated irregularly) Australian Financial Review... - Andrew Guns... - Charlie Have Your Say

What's more, if you know where to look you can even find plans and instructions on how to build a large range of guns -- everything from a potato-cannon made from PVC pipe to the blueprints for a real WW2 Sten gun that can be produced with little more than a hacksaw and file.

The ready availability of this DIY firearms information makes any proposal to ban all guns a bit of a joke doesn't it?

Naturally I'm not going to provide links to such information because you can guarantee that some half-witted fool would go ahead and build one (incorrectly) then blow themselves to bits.

However, those who know how to search and navigate the Net even modestly well should have little problem in tracking down such details.

Americans cling strongly to their "right to bear arms", claiming that it is the ultimate protection against any government that might attempt to run riot over their rights. I would argue that the Net has become an equally powerful weapon in the fight against government excess and/or corruption.

Maybe guns and the Net are good bedfellows after all.

As a footnote, I received an email from a reader last week which provided a little more information on this story about a bomb scare in Timaru.

Apparently the bombs were made from information found in the "Encyclopedia Britannica for Young People". Good grief -- has the Net fallen out of favour so much that amateur bomb makers are resorting to reading books to get their recipes???

What is the world coming to?

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