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Chinese load up on guns for profit and protection: Homemade arms reflect distrust of police
Baltimore Sun ^ | May 11, 2002 | Frank Langfitt

Posted on 05/11/2002 7:41:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:29 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

LOWER YUAN FAMILY VILLAGE, China - When a feud between villagers here and a neighboring community turned violent, people didn't turn to police for help but took matters into their own hands.

The villagers made guns.

Police, after all, are distrusted because of their tendency toward corruption, and local officials can be all too easily influenced by personal connections. Better, the villagers decided, to protect themselves. Pooling together $5,000 and working from their homes, farmers here manufactured about 40 shotguns and more than 100 hand grenades.

As word of the private arsenal spread, the rival villagers backed off.


(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: banglist; chinastuff; communism; guns; protection; zanupf
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1 posted on 05/11/2002 7:41:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
RE #1

I know that, in some poor region of USA, people supplement their income by growing pots. If guns become scarce due to strict gun laws, they may switch to illegal-gun manufacturing.

I did not know that things are this gad in China. We all heard about lagging development in hinterland of China. Now, they are resorting to old-fashioned way to make money. Producing illegal products which are strictly banned under the law, with the nudge and the wink of local officials.

2 posted on 05/11/2002 7:54:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I found it very interesting too.
3 posted on 05/11/2002 7:56:20 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: TigerLikesRooster
30 years ago, this could not have happened. Now that Red China is allowing her people to think for themselves, there's no telling what they might try next.
Home rule, anyone ?
4 posted on 05/11/2002 8:08:33 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Hmmm. Seems like Sarah Brady should be able to easily organize a million or so moms in a country as populous as China to rally for "sensible" gun laws.
5 posted on 05/11/2002 8:20:34 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Very interesting article.
6 posted on 05/11/2002 8:22:11 AM PDT by Gritty
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To: bang_list
 
7 posted on 05/11/2002 8:25:30 AM PDT by Djarum
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To: Eric in the Ozarks; Larry Lucido; Gritty
Bumps!
8 posted on 05/11/2002 8:26:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Re #4

This is what Chinese rulers hate most. Disgruntled people who are armed. And their number can grow. They give these rules willies, reminding them of large scale rebellion in previous ages, like Boxers and Tai-Ping rebellion.

Until recently, the worst these folks did against government was big demonstrations, sometimes violent, for closing down factories or offical corruption or high taxation. But they did not use guns. For now, they are turning against local rivals or enemies by using guns. But how long do they stay that way before they set their sight to the "root" cause, the regime itself. This usually happens when these locals consolidate themselves in one region. So the regime has to hit before they consolidate. Something to keep an eye on in a next few years.

9 posted on 05/11/2002 8:27:40 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: Larry Lucido
RE #5

The only trouble is that the opposing party can organize tens of millions against them. This is China, after all. A million is not an impressive number. That is the population size of "ordinary" Chinese city.

10 posted on 05/11/2002 8:29:46 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: thud
ping
11 posted on 05/11/2002 8:32:38 AM PDT by Dark Wing
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Very interesting. Thanks for the post!
12 posted on 05/11/2002 8:33:51 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"Almost everyone is named Yuan"

for lack of a better word?

13 posted on 05/11/2002 8:34:39 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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To: Cincinatus' Wife;tallhappy; b4ranch; maui_hawaii; t-shirt; hopalong; backhoe; Rain-maker; Slyfox...
"Farmers in nearby Seven House village had engaged Yuan villagers in mud fights over a disputed path"

ROTFLMAO!!
this is what it has come down to....a mud slinging contest..haha

14 posted on 05/11/2002 8:36:13 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
About 1,000 people live in the village, a carefully built grid of gray brick homes with matching tile roofs and attached pigsties.

Chinese condos. Was this author a former realtor?;^)

15 posted on 05/11/2002 8:39:26 AM PDT by budwiesest
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
"Now that Red China is allowing her people to think for themselves"

Its not that the CCP is allowing the people to think for themselves its just that oppression can only last for so long before the people get wise and start to stand up for themselves. The reason guns are banned in China is not to protect the people from hurting themselves, its to keep them from making a stand against the government.

16 posted on 05/11/2002 8:41:04 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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To: Enemy Of The State
I think you're on to something.
17 posted on 05/11/2002 8:58:15 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Beatings at the hands of Du villagers stopped.

Reminds me of Al Capone's famous quote:

I find I get more respect with a gun than with a kind word alone.

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

18 posted on 05/11/2002 9:00:47 AM PDT by JCG
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To: Enemy Of The State
The reason guns are banned in China is not to protect the people from hurting themselves, its to keep them from making a stand against the government.

Funny, isn't that the same reason that Hillary wants to ban them here?

If these people start making rifles as well as shotguns, it could get very difficult for the CRP to maintain it's iron-fisted rule over the country. What then?

19 posted on 05/11/2002 9:03:25 AM PDT by absalom01
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Do Chinese people know that Americans who are interested in articles like this are not necessarily anti-China?

I think this story is very human, with a lot of complexity involved.

However, if I posted this on lundian.com I would immediately be attacked by Chinese posters who would feel it necessary to point out drug violence in American inner cities and claim that the author of this article was a liar.

20 posted on 05/11/2002 9:13:18 AM PDT by ReveBM
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