I realize what I’m about to say isn’t a popular opinion in the Yorkton area, but in the wake of another senseless tragedy of gun violence at a school in the United States; the time has come for government officials in the US to quit turning a blind eye on what seems to be a regular occurrence and adopt, at the very least, gun laws similar to what we have in Canada. I’d, maybe, even go a step further than that as I am not a gun owner and don’t understand why anyone feels the need to own one beyond what would be used for hunting season. I’ve heard all kinds of arguments on this about people living in the country needing to defend themselves from potential criminals and I’m sympathetic as it’s just not realistic to expect police to arrive to your rural property in time to save you in the event of an emergency, but the reality is that if you shoot an intruder, you are going to be tied up in the legal system for a very long time and it’s possible you won’t come out a winner. I don’t have a solution for those people, but surely one can be found that doesn’t involve a firearm.
The whole ‘ban guns’ argument is for another day; but I think it’s important for regular readers (who brand me as a staunch Conservative) to understand that I don’t, necessarily, fall in line with the philosophy of the government. Having said that, I think Canada’s laws are about as safe as you can get for those wanting to possess firearms and the numbers back it up.
The United States can’t continue to ignore it. It’s irresponsible. From harvardpolitics.com, it’s revealed that the USA has had 55 school shootings since November 1991 to January 2013. So, there are a few recent ones missing from those statistics. As far as developed nations are concerned, Canada is actually second but we have only had to endure three (I’d argue one is one too many). This website allows you to draw a conclusion that if you put a civilian firearm into a civilian’s hand, no good will come from it. In fact, Canada has such low numbers on people who have them, yet the number of school shootings based on a per capita basis is higher than the United States! So, while I respect the opinions of law abiding citizens who say they deserve the right to carry, I suggest the proof is in the pudding as to what is going to happen if more people have them.
Guns will always be obtained illegally. Nothing will stop that no matter what law you put in place, but the fact remains that if fewer guns are available to be stolen, the lesser of an illegal gun problem you will have. The USA has an estimated 270-million civilian firearms. Canada has 9-million. No country even comes close to the USA with those numbers. China would be second at 40-million. There is no argument. The United States’ gun laws are way too slack and it needs to be tightened up for the betterment of all people.
This lunatic from Oregon last week, reportedly, asked people to identify their religion before shooting them. This adds more fuel to my recent argument that there will be a time where some governments will have no choice but to ban all religions because it is the root of all violence and conflict. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a believer in God, was brought up in the Baptist faith, and still support a lot of those principals; but fair is fair. You can’t ban the Lord’s Prayer from school because the parents of some kid at the back of the class don’t go to church, yet turn around and say that it’s okay for a group of Muslims to have their own prayer room built at taxpayer expense in university.
Some have suggested this will be impossible, but it’s not. If you want to enjoy a Christmas break, you can block off holidays with your boss. If your boss happens to believe in Christmas and wants to close the shop, you are in luck. If you are a government employee, then you are SOL. Governments shouldn’t pick their holidays based on religion so anyone wishing to celebrate their religious holiday can book it off, without penalty. In essence, I guess I’m not saying ban religion, but you can’t give preferential treatment of one over the other. So, take Merry Christmas off the city bus; but tear down the prayer room at the U of S too. This sounds fair to me as much as I despise giving in. But, isn’t this the root of all the evil? It’s either religion or radicals using religion as a front.
This wasn’t a very nice column, but I have to mention a few nice people since I didn’t last week: Braden Arnason, Dean Zerff, Janet Phair, Michelle Smith, Lori Kraft, and Debbie Dirven.
