Unarmed and Defenseless in Canada

[Shek]

I read this on one of the libertarian blogs I regularly visit. I'm curious as to what the Canadians on the board think about this.

http://rofasix.blogspot.com/2006/01/...in-canada.html

Unarmed and Defenseless in Canada

A day after Christmas a teen aged girl was killed in a drive-by shooting and six bystanders wounded in Toronto, Canada. This homicide reflects continuation of an epidemic of gun related murders in Toronto. It was tragic and a lot of Canadian bloggers wrote of their shock and dismay. Especially since guns in Canada are essentially illegal for the Canadians to possess.

Who was at fault? According to the mayor of Toronto it is the fault of the US. Figure that one out if you can. The mayor doesn't blame the shooter, but the US. In his view, lax US gun laws allow guns to "flood across the border." If you think this is just one batty mayor talking, think again. Even the Prime Minister of Canada told US Secretary of State Rice that Canada's gun-crime problems are caused by the US because guns are readily available here. In fact, the Prime Minister has pledged to ban handguns completely if reelected.

I worry about Canada in January. It is when Seasonal Affective Disorder seems at its height there. That is the only possible explanation I can come up with for their muddled and irrational thinking. There is of course another explanation, but the Canadians won't like to hear it. It is their loony approach to guns in the first place. I have written here before how gun control laws in Canada, Britain and Australia guarantee one thing - that only criminals have guns.

Crime did not drop after England banned handguns in 1997. Violent crime in the UK nearly doubled in the four years from 1998-99 to 2002-03. Since 1996, the serious violent crime rate has soared 69%, with robbery up 45% and murders up 54%. Australia also saw its violent crime rate surge after it banned private possession of most firearms in 1996. Violent crime rates averaged 32% higher in the six years following the ban than the year before. Armed robbery rates showed increases of 74%. Liberals in these countries don't like to see numbers like this. Canadians conveniently blame US guns for their problems, but if so, how I wonder do they explain the dramatic increases in the insular countries of the UK and Australia.

Canada likes to point to declining gun crimes statistics as proof that their registry program which now costs a billion US dollars a year, works. What they leave out is that Canada's reported violent crime rate of 963 per 100,000 in 2003 is more than double the US rate of 475. Why? It's simple, in the US law-abiding citizens can defend themselves and our criminals know it. In Canada, the criminals know a gun gives them unparalleled power over an unarmed citizenry. That is why it does not take rocket science to predict that as Canada catches up with the with gang related violence in their cities, they are going to see gun related homicides skyrocket.

The fact is that violent crime rates in the US have declined dramatically since 1994. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the lowest level ever recorded was reached in 2004 in terms of crimes per 1,000 population. So if lax US gun laws are causing violent crime to rise in Canada, why is it falling here?

The answer is one that pro-gun control Canadians refuse to comprehend. It is because 37 of the 50 US states have "right to carry" laws that let law abiding citizens defend themselves from armed thugs. In fact, according to John Lott, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, murder rates have fallen faster in these 37 states than the national average and that states with the highest rise in gun ownership during the 1990s also had the biggest drop in violent crime.

If Canada really wants to solve their gun related violence problem they will quite treating the symptom and scrap their draconian gun control laws. An unarmed citizenry is a sheep to armed thugs. It doesn't have to be like that, even in the Peoples Republic of Canada.

[Officer of Engineers]

I have not heard anyone in Canada claiming the gun registry works. In fact, the fact that it doesn't work is the ammunition for the Conservatives to scrap it.

Banning guns is a knee jerk reaction right now because of the Boxing Day tragedy, never mind the fact the guns used were illegal in the 1st place.

And I do agree it is the US's fault, equally with Canada, not because guns are readily available in the US and not in Canada but the fact that the security at the border is too lax. If guns are coming into Canada without us knowing it, what's going into the US without anyone knowing it?

[smilingassassin]

Heres my opinion, we are not the U.S., therefor we should be taking steps to sucure our own border. Its not nessassarily the Americans responcibility to protect Canadian citizens from our own criminals.

True they should take prudent steps to make our respective borders safe but blaming the U.S. when we have plenty of our own problems to solve is meerly passing the buck.


The mayor of Toronto is a putz who needs to grow up and accept the fact that its our governments responcibility to tackle gun crimes not the U.S.

[AutopilotOFF]

Depending on who you know, you can get a pistol for not that much in some areas. (not legally)

Better yet, steal a couple dozen rifles from the army....

[Prairie Canuck]

Hmm I think we should look at how well "banning" has done in the past...Let's ban alcohol! nah that didn't work. Let's ban some books! that didn't work either. Let's ban drugs! yeah that really slowed down. Let's ban drinking and driving! well there's some success here. who's involved in this one, ahh Mother's Against Drunk Driving. So some parents got involved. PARENTS! forget the government, get out of your big @ss lazy chair and find out what your kids are doing. And as for the "I work too many hours" bit it doesn't wash. There are thousands of parents, many of them single, working many hours and still doing a great job being involved in their kids lives. This is your proirity, not that 70 plus inch big screen piece of junk you worship every day.
You want reality TV, turn around, they may even still be home!

[smilingassassin]

Hmm I think we should look at how well "banning" has done in the past...Let's ban alcohol! nah that didn't work. Let's ban some books! that didn't work either. Let's ban drugs! yeah that really slowed down. Let's ban drinking and driving! well there's some success here. who's involved in this one, ahh Mother's Against Drunk Driving. So some parents got involved. PARENTS! forget the government, get out of your big @ss lazy chair and find out what your kids are doing. And as for the "I work too many hours" bit it doesn't wash. There are thousands of parents, many of them single, working many hours and still doing a great job being involved in their kids lives. This is your proirity, not that 70 plus inch big screen piece of junk you worship every day.
You want reality TV, turn around, they may even still be home!

Very valid points sir, well said. That being said, our government be it Liberal or Conservative should work WITH the Americans to secure the borders to stem the flow of illegal guns accross the border. Gun crimes should have more severe sentances, particularily with repeat offenders. Jane Creba and many others could have benifited from this approach to gun crimes

[Prairie Canuck]

I agree that we need to know more about what and who is crossing our border in either direction but how does this country monitor the seemingly endless stretches of land between crossings not to mention the waters off our coasts. As a country we have naively shouted our pride of having the longest undefended border in the world. We have this situation because we can't defend this border not because we choose not to. The promise by any politician to "tighten security" at our border is at best reserved to our crossings. There are many countries out there who have secured their borders to levels we would never even consider, but people still cross in and out of North Korea and bombs still get into Isreal. I hate to sound like a bleeding heart liberal (conservative?) but todays youth culture largely centres on crime, guns, and gangs. Watch MTV and Much for while, check out video games, heck drive by your neighbourhood high school. Why should we think we would be immune to all this in this country. Others will immediately argue against what I've just said but those who would argue loudest would likely be the ones making the most money from this "culture". Please don't think I'm some ethical nut ranting about the evils that surround us. Having two kids, one of which is in high school, exposed to all this "culture" tends to make me rant once in a while. Some kid in the high school next to my kid's just brought a rifle to school to sell that he had stolen from a deceased neighbours home. My first question wasn't "why isn't there a gun law to stop this?" it was "where the hell was this kid's parents?" Why don't we pass one simple law; Any parent whose child is involved in a crime will take full responsibility for that crime and will share in the punishment including any monetary considerations. My kids likely see me at times as a real pain in the ass but I think I know most of what is going on in their lives and their friends. To stop the flow of guns you need to stop people from buying them. Simple economics?

[lemontree]

Banning guns for law abiding/tax paying citizens is stupid. India too has stringent gun laws, and as a result the common citizen is at the receiving end from criminals armed with the best the black market can supply. In the state of Bihar been kidnapping school children for ransom is so common that parents and wards who can afford it, drop their children to school armed with hunting rifles and pistols. Today mornings Times of India's front page had a front page picture indicating the trend.

[smilingassassin]

Yep, other stats from countrys who have also restricted gun use for law abiding citizens confirm this trend...yet the Liberals still pander to those who really want to see an end to these crimes by continueing to egnore stats and do the same.

[Prairie Canuck]

I have trouble empathising with the people of this country who wail against the violence in their cities but do nothing but turn to their local politician for answers. How do you convince the largest electoral pocket in this country, southern Ontario, of the idiocy of this Liberal proposal. Even after reports of upwards of 2 billion of our tax dollars being spent on a completely ineffective long gun registry and even after witnessing on the supper time news the latest gun violence in the mecca of the political correctness, Toronto, the minions continue to believe in "the government must know what's best for me, eh!". You could place 100 guards at each and every crossing in this country and it would do nothing to stop guns from getting into this country. Borders, no matter where they are, will never be secure. Criminals will get a gun if they want one. Banning handguns will do nothing but punish the people who are good responsible owners much the same way the registry did to long gun owners. I don't recall too many gun collectors being involved in a drive by or holding up the local seven eleven! So where do we go from here? How do you stop gun violence in a city whose pop culture is now heavily influenced by rap stars, action movies, and first person shoot em up video games? Do you really think that having all these same people own a gun and be able to walk around with it will curd the violence. Only if the government tells them how to use it because they don't seem to be able to do anything else without turning to the government first. We're not perfect out here in the west but last time it stormed I shovelled my own walkway I didn't call out the army!

[mostlymad]

(from article)According to the mayor of Toronto it is the fault of the US. Figure that one out if you can. The mayor doesn't blame the shooter, but the US.

Actually, I think it was Prime Minister Martin who said that. Pretty sure. I have to scan the news every day for parliamentary items, and that one came up. Martin is on an anti-US kick thinking for some reason it will gain him votes in the upcoming election. The US diplomat here asked him (kind of told him) to back off. Martin said he won't be told what to do by the US.

So, I wouldn't put too much weight on that statement. Canadians I spoke with thought it was ridiculous, just Martin grasping at whatever he can to look in control as he drops down in the polls.

[Dreadnought]

I never knew that it was illegal to own a firearm in Canada.

I dont think I would feel comfortable with that idea.

To me if you commit a violent crime with a gun premeditated then it should cost you your life because obviously you dont respect others right to live either. It may seem a harsh view but who defends the innocent when most of the time its too late and they are either mamed for life or dead.

[Officer of Engineers]

I never knew that it was illegal to own a firearm in Canada.

It's not illegal to own firearms in Canada ... but they do make it feel like it is. There's a 1000 hoops you've got to jump through to own and use pistols in Canada.

[Dreadnought]

It's not illegal to own firearms in Canada ... but they do make it feel like it is. There's a 1000 hoops you've got to jump through to own and use pistols in Canada.

I guess in many ways thats a good thing. Bad thing is they are sold out of car trunks everywhere.

[Ballguy]

Yep, other stats from countrys who have also restricted gun use for law abiding citizens confirm this trend...yet the Liberals still pander to those who really want to see an end to these crimes by continueing to egnore stats and do the same.

Actually, if you rely on government statistics rather than private ones, gun control is effective.

Here is where having a gun does not or did not help:

Iraq

Nazi Germany

Rwanda

Somalia

Sierra Leone

Afghanistan

Mexico

Etc, etc.