So to sum up all the bullshit here goes. We don't know how many handguns there are in Canada. We don't know how many criminals have them. We don't know what to do. We don't know how to approach the obvious racial problems with handguns, and things won't be changing very quickly. It's pretty much all Bullshit. That's despite tossing several billion dollars at the problem and having countless reports on the media. And politicians will continue to try and get votes by claiming that handguns should be banned. And even if they are banned to the detriment of collectors and target shooters the problem will not be solved because criminals will get them anyway. 

Here are some facts: (Source -Canada Firearms Centre)

• Firearms deaths per year in Canada - approx 1385

• 79% of all firearm deaths were suicides and only 14% (approx 193) homicides

• homicides involving firearms =32%, stabbings =29% beatings =11% other 7%.

some other leading causes of death for comparison purposes

•  2800 people die each year in motor vehicle accidents, 68,000 from cancer, 77,200 from heart disease,21,000 from air pollution, 400 from drowning

• In the USA there are about 30,000 gun deaths a year over half of which are suicides. Canadians are doing something right because of the 15,000 or so gun related murders normally Canada being one tenth the population might be considered to have about 1500 but we only have about 200 gun caused homicides. That's an excellent number unless you are one of the unlucky 200.  Everybody and their pet dog has a gun down in the USA with gun ownership in about 51% of households compared to 22% in Canada.

One could form a conclusion that the greater good of Canadian  society would be better served by doing something about the problem of 2800 Canadians who die in auto accidents each year or the 21,000 that die of air pollution- rather than throwing billions at the problem of  approx 200 people who die in fire arm homicides. But we will continue to bumble along pissing our taxpayer dollars away while Rome burns. Or whatever! Did you know that approximately 400 people drown EVERY year in Canada or over one per day AND 80% were not wearing life jackets. 50% of the people who drowned had consumed alcohol. Does that get the same level of press as the hand guns? No. Why???

Some say there is no better father-daughter bonding then going to an old gravel pit with the nine year old and a few boxes of 9mm ammunition and letting Princess blast away with the browning hi power at a tin can and some of her older dolls. Especially those smelly old ones grandma had as a kid.  Be sure to park the ole environmentally friendly SUV around a corner. 

What worries me much more than guns in Canada are the millions of knives that people are legally carrying including combat knives and various types of swords!!(editor's note since writing this a horrible tragedy occurred on a bus in Manitoba as a young innocent man was beheaded by a mad man armed with a combat knife) As the stats show -lots of people are getting stabbed in Canada these days. You can actually legally walk into a mall with a four foot sword or large hunting or combat knife on your belt in Canada. But carry a a 22 cal derringer popgun (a prohibited weapon) and you go into the big house for years. Go figure! And yes you can still go out and buy a big honking crossbow that will shoot a metal bolt right thru a car and everyone it it without any requirements for a license or permit.  

There are several variables with cross bows and bows relating to the size and weight and design of arrow and the draw weight of the bow. Nevertheless we can use a ball park example of an arrow of say 600 grains and a velocity of 300 feet per second and note a couple of things about it. First of all it will penetrate a kevlar vest at 20 or possibly up to 50 yards. The arrowhead can be designed for target practice or killing game (or humans). It slices through bone and flesh and penetrates causing a terrible mess.  In fact it can do more damage than a firearm. The point being there are practically no rules, no registration and no licences required in Canada for these weapons. In fact there is no public or media awareness of this threat. Everyone concentrates on the "evil" of firearms instead. Yet there are thousands of these weapons in Canada. Go figure eh! Like firearms the bow and arrow and cross bow are not evil. They have been around for thousands of years. 

I'm not thru yet! ( please make him stop!)

For under the price of a tank of gas for the ole SUV you can trot down to your local marine dealer or Canadian Tire store and purchase a perfectly legal flare pistol with no permit, no tests, no name and no note from Mommy. Turn on the bullshit tap. The flare pistol which shoots a shotgun sized shell is NOT considered to be a fire arm if used exclusively for marine signalling but IS CONSIDERED to be a firearm if used to commit a crime. The obvious question then is what is the status if your home is being broken into and you pull out your flare pistol and plug the bad dude. It might not kill them but it would probably get their attention and might burn down your house too. Those sorts of questions are for the lawyers to figure out but the bottom line here is that it sure as hell looks like a handgun to me. I rest my case -the entire topic is bathed in bullshit. And bullshit baffles brains. 

Go figure again. One word. Bullshit. 

My personal opinion on guns is as follows. My Dad taught me how to safely handle guns and hunt in Northern Ontario as a kid. I took the hunter training course in high school. In the armed forces I was taught how to handle and shoot a variety of weapons. You can have a huge amount of fun with guns and not kill anybody. There are few things as much fun as placing a pop can on a post and stepping back a good distance and seeing if you can hit it. Or shooting at a target and seeing if you can get a good grouping. It's much more fun and healthy than sitting in front of the boob tube drinking beer and eating cheese poofs.

There is nothing particularly bad or evil about firearms. In the back country away from the support of civilization they can be a very good safety against beasts a bit higher on the food chain or protection for livestock against predators.  You might be surprised at the number of beasts in Canada that would cheerfully eat you or your family member while out on a hike to see mother nature. In a war time situation its good to know that some of the folks back home know how to shoot straight. Its something our troops need to know in Afghanistan to protect themselves and Canada's interests.  Its also good to know that in some parts of the country you can go out and hunt for the family's food needs without being dependent on a plastic wrapped piece of meat loaded with growth hormones and listeria bacterium at the local grocers. Finally, having a fire arm in the house was a traditional deterrent to crime especially in the rural areas of Canada. Disarming the population and just allowing the police and criminals to have access to fire arms is not the solution here. Yet some people say it is.

I will quote one of the world's brown bear experts Mr. Lavern Buyer from Alaska who said it would be foolish to go into bear country without a weapon. This fellow knows his stuff. In fact he has been attacked by a bear and his rifle is the only thing that saved him. And yet we now have Canadians absolutely convinced that it is safe for them and their family to hike through bear country on a family picnic with their little shiatsu for protection and possibly a bell or a one ounce bottle of bear spray. I don't think so. If you still doubt me and you have already eaten please review the Timothy Treadwell bear attack story in the links below. We are just not dealing with winnie the pooh or yogi the bear folks. 

City folk often see guns as a threat and don't see the other side of the story. The public opinion pendulum is swinging away from gun ownership and hunting to a society where the only ones with guns will be the police. The only others with guns will then be the crooks. I hope we can as a society reduce the amount of bullshit associated with public opinion and media coverage concerning gun ownership and hunting in Canada. Historically, Canada has always been a place where gun ownership and hunting was a way of life and recently that has all changed to the point where many Canadians are extremely opinionated against this lifestyle based in large part on ignorance and biased continual negative media coverage. 

One important factor in this opinion formation is the demographics of Canada today. Now we have over 80% of the population living in a narrow band in a few urban centers 100 miles wide clinging to the US border. This is where the anti-gun attitude has developed. The other 20% of the population will have a much more positive attitude towards gun ownership because they live in areas where guns can be more readily used in lower density areas and wide open spaces. Only a very stupid person would venture into bear or wolf territory without some sort of firearm to protect themselves and family members. Its entirely understandable why a resident of North York in Toronto may have difficulty understanding why people need a shot gun to hunt ducks or a rifle to hunt deer or moose. It just doesn't make any sense to them that you can actually go and hunt your own fresh food without having it grown in a feed lot processed in a huge factory and wrapped in plastic and purchased at the grocery store. And the media neglects to make these distinctions when they report gun related stories because their readers don't want to hear that part of the story. 

Unfortunately gun ownership has become politicised and now one party is for it the other is against it so out the window go facts and common sense and in comes the usual political rhetoric and silliness associated with people trying to win votes and make points. 

I suggest the first step is education -to know the facts - several of which I have presented here. The reality is that in one day in Canada the number of people who die of cancer and heart disease is TWICE the annual fatality rate from handguns, and your chances of getting killed in an auto accident are over  ten times your chances of getting killed with a handgun. Every DAY in Canada 240 women are sexually assaulted.  And yet every time there is a handgun death we get blanket coverage by the media and comments from everyone. Have you ever considered that there just might be a  problem here? These are the facts -you decide! Please Refer this to somebody who would be interested or who can help the public better understand the issues and facts associated with gun ownership in Canada. 

Update March 12/2009 I noticed lately that the media is referring to murders and shootings that occur as "Gun Crimes" or "Gun Violence" with the recent spat of shootings in Vancouver. In fact it would be more accurate to call these events "Drug Violence" or "Drug Crime" or "gang violence" because this is what causing the deaths. It is the old story that people kill people not guns kill people. You may consider this a play on words but in fact if guns were not available as the media and politicians and even as many in the public would like to see then violent acts associated with the drug trade would still take place. People would be stabbed to death, or decapitated as is the trend now in the Mexican drug wars or they would be clubbed with steel rods or baseball bats or whatever. The problem is not the guns the problem is the drugs. Human's by their very nature love to simplify things. So they simplify a complex problem like crime and the drug trade down to "guns". They forget that there are millions of "guns" in Canada that are used legally with no problems every year by law abiding people. The problem is with the criminals and they will get their hands on guns no matter what the laws are. 

A more intelligent or analytical person will tend to make distinctions between information and they will come to different conclusions that those that continually simplify information. They will make the distinction between the legal use of guns and the illegal use of guns and make a further distinction between law abiding people and criminals. They understand what is going on. I just find this situation to be very frustrating. The simple solutions (ban all guns) to simplified problems (guns are the problems) will not solve the problems that we see in the drug trade. 

Canada has squandered billions of dollars attempting to control firearms for legal use by law abiding citizens. All that we have achieved is to destroy an industry that has for many years served Canadians. And it is the old story -the only ones with weapons will be the criminals and the police. How would you feel hiking in the back country with animals that can kill you or living in an area many miles from the nearest police office or being on a small vessel sailing through pirate infested waters. How would you feel if you sent your son or daughter over to Afghanistan to fight Taliban who had been living with guns since they were kids and your kid had a short course in the Army on how to use one. Suddenly one begins to realize that guns are the the evil machines some make them out to be. They have legitimate uses that are entirely within the law. 

And a last thought for the Latte Sucking Yuppies who think all firearms are evil and should be outlawed in Canada. You are hiking with your family in the Northern bush. Out pops a black bear or in BC a big Grizzly and you do the appropriate thing. (You make yourself as large as possible and slowly back away.) As you do this the bear first kills and then starts to eat your dog.  Then he moves on to your smallest child. Then your wife because she has a bad knee and is a bit slower than you. But not to worry. You have stood up for your beliefs. You KNOW that guns are evil. You know that it would be wrong to shoot the bear. There is a link below I request that you read carefully about the Timothy Treadwell incident. 

Thankfully, there are still people in Canada who would know how to survive in a situation like that with the help of the family gun. And fido and little Kathy would be still here today. But not Mr. Bear. Mr Bear will be on the guest room bedroom on the floor (as a rug eh!).

I hope you have found this information useful or thought provoking. Guns are an emotionally charged topic and it's time to re-think some of the ideas we have been force fed from the media and special interest groups. The anti gun special interest group is very vocal and they get constant media coverage. If they get their way there will be no guns in Canada. Whenever a special interest group gets control over government policy the rest of the population suffers. Guns do have a useful and practical place in our society. A very small minority of Criminals use them too but simply banning them for all users is a simplistic idea without logic or reason and often pushed for political gain. If we were doing that with cars that kill over ten times the number of people guns do each year then all the cars would be banned. And less you think this is lunacy there are those who believe this is a good idea too. 

It is time to stand up for your rights and oppose the special interest anti gun lobby. That can be done on all levels and the place to start is the next time you hear somebody expressing their opinion that all guns should be banned. They have a right to express that opinion but you have a right to express yours. If you speak up you may be able to change theirs and if you keep quiet their opinions will be translated into government policy and there will be no guns in Canada. The choice is yours. And don't let your media get away with it's biased anti gun reporting. Demand a balanced factual report after all that's what the news is supposed to be! We have a country with vast open spaces and hundreds of thousands of responsible gun owners and we need to stand up for ourselves or nobody else will.  Thanks for reading this and I hope you have learned something new about guns in Canada. The links to other sites are a great source of information so please review them too!!

Cheers!!  ron

 

 

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