[pct-l] Just one statistic...

[mark v]

Gary, i don't read every post on this list, so i didn't get any requests from any hosts that carrying guns on the trail was off-limits to discussion.  Frankly, i would have never guessed that this would be an off-limits topic, considering that it's relevant and that many inappropriate and irrelevant topics are discussed at length even as they offend people personally.  Meanwhile, my fairly dispassionate and literal post extrapolating statistics on the odds of being killed by a bear or a gun on the trail doesn't belong on the list?  I hope you can understand how that would be surprising to me.

What i read was a post addressed to me and to the list that went off on how guns should be legal on the trail, and so naturally i responded that i wasn't talking about legality, and that the choice i was talking about has a lot of facts backing up one side of it.  

This seems to be a list-wide problem.  If a message goes to a person AND to the list, the person should be able to respond to the person and the list, or the effect is that they get put down and can't do anything to explain themselves.  And conversely, if an email is NOT to the list, people shouldn't be responding and copy/pasting that email to the list.  If a statement is public and refers to me, i should have the right to respond to it.  If it's private, it should stay private.  (Then if we want to get really fancy, if a person emails a polite question privately, it's nice if it gets an answer.  And, if a person doesn't respond to the first 3 emails, it's nice not to barrage them with 3 more.)

--- On Fri, 5/22/09, Gary Wright <gwtmp01 at mac.com> wrote:

> From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01 at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Just one statistic...
> To: "mark v" <allemande6 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "PCT MailingList" <pct-l at backcountry.net>, "Brick Robbins" <brick at fastpack.com>
> Date: Friday, May 22, 2009, 8:14 AM
> 
> On May 22, 2009, at 1:19 AM, mark v wrote:
> > Those who choose to carry guns on the trail, you can
> feel safe, since it's doubtful you'll be the one out of 3
> billion at risk for a fatal attack.  Please be sure you
> keep the rest of us safe by keeping your gun in your pack
> all the time.  No further comment.
> 
> I apologize for singling out Mark, but can we please stop
> this discussion?  I would love to chime in and respond
> to some of the points made but I don't think a general
> discussion of risk assessment, liberty, gun rights,
> self-defense, federalism, and the nature of the 2nd, 9th,
> and 10th amendments is appropriate for this list.
> 
> If I hit delete and ignore the points made, I'm silently
> confirming them.  If I jump in and extend an off-topic
> discussion, I'm contributing to the problem, so I would like
> to just ask that we observe earlier requests from our hosts
> and stop this line of discussion.
> 
> Gary Wright
> 
> 
>