As a Canadian, I just cannot believe the number of Americans that apparently carry guns or keep guns in their homes. It is really foreign to us and I worry that too many innocent people are being killed every year due to someone having a gun when they really do not need one. What is gun control anyway? We did not add a picture of a gun to this page simply because we cannot promote guns in general.
I really do not care about the right to bare arms. That was set back in a time when it was important to be able to defend yourself against marauding Indians and many criminals that just felt they could take what they wanted. If you feel that you need a gun to protect yourself, what is wrong with a pistol. If you feel you want to go hunting, what is wrong with a single action rifle of some kind? When would you ever use an assault rifle? This is what we need to discuss when it comes to gun control.
So let’s be really clear. This is not a rant against guns in general. This is a question about why we should be able to buy assault rifles or some other automatic action gun. There is just no need for one of these guns in our society. Rifles are ok for hunting, pistols are ok for self defense. we just need to be really careful about how we store them so our kids cannot get at these guns in the home. That is gun control in our mind.
Why Do we need Gun Control?
If people are that worried about defending themselves against marauding armies or even your own country, then we have far worse problems. There are just too many people being killed every year by guns that are purchased legally. This is what apparently happened in Colorado in July of 2012. Why did this guy need and why should he even be able to buy an assault rifle and all of the ammo for it? It just does not make any kind of sense at all.
Then are the people who feel that if someone also had a firearm while in the theater, this could have ended before so many people were killed. That’s just great, now you have bullets flying around from multiple guns, going through walls and probably killing others in adjacent rooms. Can you imagine the carnage? In the confusion, people would not know who the good guys were and who the bad guy was. People would shoot at anyone with a gun in this kind of situation and the death toll would have been a lot higher from so called friendly fire.
How Do We Solve The Gun Problem
The United States needs to get this problem solved. If gun laws are no good, or cannot be changed, then another solution needs to be found. It must start with a profound culture change from many people wanting to have guns to many people not wanting to have guns. How you change the culture of a nation were the use of guns and the ownership of guns is such as excitable issue for many people and embedded in the culture is really difficult. Most politicians on either side just do not want to attack it. They may find their political careers over.
Even if you try to limit guns with some kind of automatic action, many gun enthusiasts will fight this. It is considered and encroachment on their rights and the first step towards abolition of guns all together. I think we are so far from that latter scenario, that they need not worry at all.
We seriously need to try to do something about this major problem. We are no longer in the old west were you needed a gun. This is the 21st century!
Some readers might wonder why a Canadian is so concerned about this issue. Well the reality is that what goes on in America, pretty soon begins to affect Canada. We have already seen more killings from guns in some of our major cities. This problem is on the up tick in Canada. We think it will only get worse here too unless something is done in both countries.
Your comments are welcome on both sides of the argument. Let’s keep it civil and constructive and maybe we can move this issue ahead somewhat to better understanding on both sides. For more thoughts on this interesting subject, click here.