Before I say too much here. I am no longer a gun owner in Canada or any where else. Living in the US for almost 7 years has made me change my mind about legal gun ownership. Not for me anymore. I accept that it is just no longer fun for me. So before anyone jumps on me for my next statements or thoughts.(Besides I miss the fact the army no longer pays for my ammo usage )
Lets look at gun ownership and compare it to car ownership and drivers license.
Any Province in Canada, you can get your learners permit and start driving at 16 ( Ontario with the graduated program it is kind of different but the same ideas.)
Johnny Bloggins go down to the Driver's test center, slaps down the fee to write the test. Johnny Blogins passes the test. Within the next year or so he may take the drivers ed courses and passes, ( but not forced to take it, unless he wants the insurance break ) 17 comes and he goes and passes the full license program, and the MTO ( Ontario ) gives him a full authority to drive with only weight restrictions, drinking and driving rules etc.
There is no horse power restriction, no travel restrictions, no police checks, he can drive coast to coast to coast if he can afford the gas and food, if he wants.
Johnny Blogins is now 65 and retired and his wife decide to sell their home, and join the RV life style and cruise in their 48 foot RV and drive coast to coast to coast, and then travel in the US. No one checks to see if he can drive that RV, dotted the line and pay the bill and off they go.
Jonny Blogins can do just as much damage with his high powered sports car, or his over sized pick up truck, or his RV. But because he passed the test when he was 16 he can drive without any checks on skill or rules of the road again till 75 or 80 depending on the Province he retires to.
Johnny Blogins takes the same $125 he was going to spend on drivers testing, and instead spends it on a gun safety program, he passes the courses with flying colours, aces all the tests. Johnny Blogins cannot go out to the local gun store and buy the single shot .22 or the shot gun, or even a deer gun to hunt with good old dad till Johnny Blogins submits to a police back ground check, and pays some more money for fun of having a mini police investigation into his life. Then if Johnny Blogins passes the investigation and background check and gets his PAL, he can go buy the firearm of his choice. Restricted a whole other ball game, more courses, more police checks, and transportation rules etc. And to top it off if Johnny Blogins decides he wants to divorce and it is time to renew his PAL or RPAL the police can will contact his ex wife to see if she has any issues with his renewals.
In 2019, 249 people were killed by guns in Canada. In 2019, 1762 people were killed in traffic accidents.
2018, North York 11 killed, 16 injured. ( Vans can kill just as many people as a gun can in the right conditions)
Since 2006, there have been 76 people killed in 17 mass shootings in Canada. Mass shooting being counted as more than 2 victims.
Canadians own an estimated 7.1 Million guns, or 245 guns per 1000 people.
I do not think Canadians should fear the average legal gun owner, my last gun sat in a case, trigger locked, in a closet, never left the house and killed anyone or anything for over 20 years.
The Government of Canada has picked on the easiest target ( pun intended) and made them out to be evil people and they should all rot in hell because they are evil. These evil people are known as legal gun owners. Who took all the courses, follow all the rules, on storage, transport, border crossings, ammo storage, paying the fees for renewals. But the Government of Canada is picking on them because they know where the guns are, they know who owns them, they know where they store them. Most of all because this group of evil people will give up the black super scary looking weapons upon demand so they may be allowed to keep the less scary weapons. I feel for the legal gun owners, I respect the fun of blasting paper, tin cans, water melons , steel plates, and the animals in season.
The Government of Canada is going after them evil people because it is easier than going after the criminals with the illegal weapons, the converted semi to full autos, the illegal handguns, the modified weapons such as the sawed off shotguns, the shorten barrels on long guns to make them more cancelable for robberies. Because this would actually involve using police investigations and money that might make a real difference when taking illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. Charge the offenders, give a real jail sentence, no plea bargains, but this is unfair because of the criminal was raised or past abuse or whatever excuse the defence lawyer comes up with that makes the sentence look like too harish of a punishment.
Time for real gun control and real punishment for illegal guns. Stop making law abiding Canadians out to be evil and making them criminals.
www.fraserinstitute.org
