[Faceman]

The topic you are takling about if I get you right is Euthanasia (i.e. actively killing or assisting somebody in suicide to spare him from suffering in the last days of his life - e.g. someone suffering from AIDS)
Assisted suicide AFAIK deals with different issues. With people commiting suicide (mostly for health reasons) to escape from future physical or psychical suffering (i.e. somebody not wanting to live with a handicap) even if there is a high life expectancy left.

The difference as I understand it is:
Assisted suicide means only the person seeking death deems his/her life unbearable (for understandable reasons)
while Euthanasia means society oo a major number of people deem/would deem his/her life unbearable.

Euthanasia is indeed a very controversial issue especially with people who got terminal diseases that make them a mere vegetable for the last months/weeks of their life.
Here in Austria there is a movement of catholics (and the cath. church) which engages in care for such patients in their last weeks and tries to give them death in dignity without euthanasia.

Assisted suicide however (as I have defined it above and I am not quite sure if that is 100% correct) IMHO is close to involuntary manslaughter. Just because a person decides he/she doesn't want to live we can step forward and say: "I understand your situation" but we can't add: "and that's why I will support every stupid conclusion you draw out of it".
People who attempt suicide need help and not from a firearms dealer that isn't.

[ 06-14-2003, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Faceman ]