To the Editor,
There was another mass shooting last week. Eight people were gunned down south of the border.
As the New Yorker pointed out in Talk of the Town, in 2019 there had been more mass shootings (defined as four or more deaths) than days in the year — over 365 mass shootings. It was an epidemic!
We are not immune here in Canada. April 18 was the one-year anniversary of the Nova Scotia slaughter of 22 people. Painful memories indeed.
According to the gun-loving NRA, the solution is more guns. Everyone armed to the teeth, walking around bristling with weaponry. That would solve it all! Nothing like a .50-calibre machine on one’s front lawn to scare away the bad guys!
Some will argue that knives are very dangerous. But wait a minute here — to do damage with a knife, one has to get up close and personal. With a gun, one can stand back and if it’s an assault rifle, just keep pressing the trigger.
I want to pause here and state I am a gun owner and I would protest loudly! The two weapons I owned were registered until Stephen Harper catered to the gun crowd. It is said the NRA itself cancelled the long-gun registry over the objections of various police organizations and the province of Quebec.
Yet, there are still those who decry any attempt to limit firearms, especially assault rifles and hand guns. They also imply that anyone who favours such things as gun control or a limit on firearms ownership, is a fool.
I’m told that countries like Australia who have embraced stricter gun control have reaped the benefit. Australia, which was well on its way to copying the United States and its firearms carnage, brought in tougher rules, and they have not had a mass shooting since.
So who is the fool here? Advocating for more guns to solve the gun crisis is a little like pouring a can of gasoline on a campfire to put it out.
Don’t you think?
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.