At the risk of sounding like the NRA, the possession of guns
standing alone does not lead to violence.
If you look at world statistics, some countries with very high gun
ownership rates have low murder rates.
That said, gun ownership (which is very high in Canada - it's only in comparison to the US it looks
low) needs to be regulated and made safe:
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Gun ownership and violence towards the RCMP
"We must work together to ensure the safety of our
communities"
NUNATSIAQ NEWS
“Acts of violence against those who are here to protect us
are a matter of great concern,” Shewchuk said in an Aug. 13 statement. “These
men and women risk their lives on a daily basis so that we can have safe communities.”
Shewchuk’s statement followed a period of slightly more than
a week during which here three separate firearms incidents took place in
Kimmirut, Igloolik and Hall
Beach
“We must work together to ensure the safety of our
communities by supporting the well-being of our RCMP members. I urge all
community members to take steps to make sure that firearms are properly stored,
secured, and handled with care,” Shewchuk said.
Two important points:
ReplyDeleteFirst, what type of guns? Hunting rifles and shotguns are tools. Handguns and automatic weapons are iron Viagra. If a lot of your guns are designed primarily to kill people, then people will be killed.
Second, what kind of attitude? If you have a Wild West fantasy running constantly in your head, and think that you're somehow going to "defend your freedom" with your own personal arsenal, then people will be killed.
Fair nuff. In Numavut the guns are tools for hunting. Nothing more.
ReplyDeleteJames, I think your Nunavut friends might disagree with that statement. Hunting implies food or resource extraction. I am pretty sure a number of Nunavuters keep guns for defense against polar bears, grizzly bears, black bears and even moose. Now defense is entirely different from hunting and brings us directly to the oft used and utterly incorrect statement that hand guns are only used for killing people. We know that is false because the various provincial and territorial authorities can and do issue carry permits for handguns, called a Wilderness Authorization To Carry. Hand guns are useful for defense against wildlife. In fact, they are specifically allowed because people working in the wilderness are burdened excessively by long guns such as rifles and shotguns and are therefore much less likely to keep them close to hand. Hand guns are much easier to keep close at hand and are considered adequate for wildlife self-defence.
ReplyDeleteI think it wildly hilarious that we think it reasonable to carry a gun to defend against a bear but not a much more dangerous human. We can carry pepper spray for use on dogs but it is illegal to carry it for the purpose of rape defence.