On Sun, 5 Jan 1997 14:57:07 -0500 (EST), Harold Ancell wrote:

  Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 11:06:03 -0600 (CST)
  From: Scott Jamison <majks@cyberx.com>

  On Sun, 5 Jan 1997, Gary Kleppe wrote:

  > >polearm.  As Nodoka drew closer, she noticed the woman also had a modern 
  > >military rifle slung over her shoulder.
  > Wonder how she got the gun...
	   Same place she got the walkie-talkie.  

And where was that? Answer: Same place she got the gun! Circular
reasoning: See reasoning, circular. :-)

Stolen from the People's Liberation Army (PLA)?  Maybe....

Openly displayed?  I seriously doubt it.

Suffice it to say that for American gun-control types, China is a paradise.

Some years ago, when I was talking with a student couple from the PRC
about renting a room, I of course told them I had a couple of
firearms.  I'll never forget their reaction: the idea of owning TWO was
*totally astounding.*

Far be it from me to defend the Chinese government in any way, and I
REALLY don't want to get into a debate on gun control, but I don't
think this sort of response would be limited to the Chinese. Guns are
not *nearly* as prevalent anywhere else as they are in the US. Nobody
has ever pulled a gun on Ranma, for example. In real life, the
Japanese were horrifiedly surprised when somebody in Louisiana blew
away a Japanese exchange student who had come to his house by mistake.

Now as far as the Amazons go, I would imagine the Chinese government
would have bigger things to worry about than some weirdos out in the
middle of nowhere. Especially when the Amazons keep to themselves, and
have super martial artists, magic items, etc. If they *really* wanted
to wipe out the Amazons, they could attack with bombs and artillery.
The little pea-shooter above wouldn't be much use then.

Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics