Friday, May 04, 2007

One Man, One Gun

One Man, One Gun
by Bevin Chu
May 04, 2007


Pai Ping-ping: "I can accept abolishing the death penalty, but I demand the same rights as Americans. One man, one gun. When my life is threatened, we'll shoot it out and see who's left standing."

Pai Ping-ping is a well-known television personality on Taiwan. A decade ago, she was an enthusiastic supporter of the DPP as a political party, and of Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian as political leaders.

Then she got wise.

In April 1997,
Chen Ching-hsing, Lin Chun-sheng, and Kao Tien-min, a trio of Taiwan independence thugs, Deep Green supporters of the DPP, kidnapped Pai Ping-ping's 17 year old daughter Pai Hsiao-yen, and held her for ransom.

Pai Ping-ping raised the five million US dollars the kidnappers demanded and repeatedly attempted to turn the money over to them. But the kidnappers sadistically tortured and murdered her daughter
anyway, then dumped her body in a rural drainage ditch, on the premise that "dead girls tell no tales."

It is said that "A fool who persists in his folly will become wise." Many supporters of Taiwan independence are now former supporters of Taiwan independence. By persisting in their folly they have become wise.

China, including the Taiwan region of China, has never acknowledged the right of ordinary citizens to keep and bear arms. Many societies, as divergent as Afghanistan and Switzerland, have cultural traditions that acknowledge this natural right of individual human beings. China, it pains me to say, has not been among them.

Pai however, has become very wise indeed. Not only has she forsaken Pan Green ideology, she now explicitly champions the right to keep and bear arms.

Pai is hardly a "deep thinker." She is not a constitutional scholar
or a civil rights lawyer. She is a TV personality who is for the most part "famous for being famous."

That someone like Pai would have the uncommon sense to recognize
that armed self-defense is a fundamental human right, is immensely encouraging. This is particularly true in the wake of the 32 shooting deaths at Virginia Tech, when many Americans have lost sight of this simple truth that the Founding Fathers considered self-evident.

One can only hope that Pai's conversion to champion of the right to keep and bear arms is the first of many to come, not only in the Taiwan region of China, but in China as a whole.


One can only hope that Pai's conversion is not merely the first of 23 million, the Chinese population on Taiwan, but the first of 1.3 billion, the population of China as a whole.

See:
An interview with John Lott: More Guns, Less Crime
Gun control myths: Part III

The Presidential Pardon / Furious Backlash!
Pai Ping-ping: This can't be the President's Legacy
translated by Bevin Chu
April 25, 2007


The Presidential Pardon / Furious Backlash!

President Chen Shui-bian intends to issue a nationwide presidential pardon. As soon as the news got out, victims' families reacted angrily. Pai Ping-ping, whose daughter Pai Hsiao-yen was murdered ten years ago, angrily denounced the proposed pardon as callous indifference to the feelings of decent, law-abiding citizens. She also urged President Chen to reconsider, pointing out that if Chen Ching-hsing, her daughter's murderer was still alive, her tax money would be supporting him for the rest of his life.

Although her tone was moderate, the content of Pai Ping-ping's statement was direct and sharp. She occasionally choked up as she attacked President Chen's nationwide mass pardon.

Pai Ping-ping: "Abolishing the death penalty means life sentences. If Chen Ching-hsing, the man who murdered Pai Hsiao-yen were still alive today, I would have to work hard earning money paying taxes to support him for a lifetime. What kind of society is that?"

Pai Ping-ping: "I can accept abolishing the death penalty, but I demand the same rights as Americans. One man one gun. When my life is threatened, we'll shoot it out and see who's left standing."

On the 10th anniversary of Pai Hsiao-yen's kidnap/murder, Pai Ping-ping's mood remains as intense as back then. The sense of helplessness felt by crime victim family members can only be imagined.

Source: TVBS

Original Chinese below:

總統特赦/痛批赦免!
白冰冰:不會是總統政績

2007-04-25 17:58

陳水扁總統將推動全國性赦免,消息一出,就引起受害者家屬的反彈,10年前女兒白曉燕遇害的白冰冰,痛批這是不顧善良百姓的感受,也在錄影現場懇求陳總統三思,白冰冰還比喻,如果陳進興沒有死,不就等於拿納稅錢,養他一輩子。

藝人白冰冰:「我覺得,赦免案這一件事情,不會是陳總統在位8年的政績。」

語氣很婉轉,白冰冰話的內容卻是直接犀利,帶點哽咽,反擊陳總統擬推動的全國大赦免。白冰冰:「廢除死刑的配套措施,就是終生監禁,今天殺白曉燕的陳進興(如果)不死,我白冰冰得努力賺錢,繳稅金去養他一輩子,那是那門子的社會?」

才走上街頭,連署死刑不能廢,現在,白冰冰再抗上大減刑,喪女之痛還在,不滿情緒發難。白冰冰:「我接受廢除死刑,但是我能不能要求跟美國一樣,一個人配給我們一支槍,我生命有威脅的時候,大槍拼小槍,贏的人算。」

白曉燕案10週年,白冰冰情緒依舊激昂,受害者家屬的心情無奈,可想而知;比白曉燕再早一個10年,新竹學童陸正的綁票撕票案,也是父親陸晉德一輩子的痛,得知減刑消息,氣得話都快講不清楚,開罵!

陸正父親陸晉德:「怎麼你現在受到國法懲罰,忽然說要減刑,那有這種道理,我們政府到底是為善良的百姓做事情,還是說要站在罪犯那一邊呢?」

聽的出忿忿不平,還有無力感,質疑,司法怎麼給正義交代?看來,赦免爭議一時不會平息。

新聞來源:TVBS