Guns In The Nudes News

The new issue of Playboy (June, 2004) has two interesting mentions of guns. No, I am not a regular reader of the magazine - my sister in law is in this issue so I actually purchased it.



The first mention is in a one page A-Z guide to radio ID tags. Under "G" is the following entry

Guns: The Malaysian government has purchased the right to RIFDs that may be durable enough to be placed in bullets, allowing them to be traced to the buyer.

Ugh. Just what we need. A new hi tech ballistics fingerprinting. OF course for it to work it would require licensing of all ammo sellers and frcing them to purchase the technology and keep track of the records that would allow for the ID to take place. I don't see it happening anytime soon here. But you never know...the commie momies are gonna be out on the mall in full force this weekend.

The second is more intersting. There are two good interviews in this issue. The first is with Derek Jeter of the NY Yankees. The second is with Jude Law who I have enjoyed in a number of movies. The headline states

Jude Law: The British leading man isn't sure which is more dangerous - guns in America or tabloids back home.

Of course, the interview is far less innefarious than that headline suggests. Here is the relevant excerpt:

9

PLAYBOY: You played a sniper in Enemy at the Gates, but you live in a country where its hard to buy a gun. What do you make of America;s fascination with firearms?

LAW: Unfortunatly, it seems that guns and the gun culture are a part of most world socieities. What troubles me more is that people are shocked and surprised when tragedies like Columbine or the D.C. sniper shootings hit the news. Mix guns freely into a culture in which people are dealing with emotional problems and stress, and you end up with body counts because guns are so easy to operate. It is sad but inevitable, whether it's stating a war or cornering a nation or a religious faith into a position in which it feels it has to kick back to be heard. We know how humans react, just as we know how a gun works. So why are we surprised when it goes terribly wrong?

Like I said, not nearly as bad as the headline suggests . . . and at least he seems to have an understanding that violence is inherent in human nature and not caused because of the presence of guns, but it still strikes me as a bit condescending of American culture.

More later, and no, my sister in law isn't in the buff ... she does biotech work and was interviewed as part of the bio tech foods article thats also in this issue