Quote:
Originally Posted by BruSan
Saturno, we do get it.
We disagree on the issue to what extent laws may have patterned their commonality and usage differently in the respective countries.
Guns don't commit the crime; the people holding them do. Laws regulating firearm ownership do not prevent those intent upon committing a crime with a firearm from obtaining and/or using one.
We are painfully aware of this conundrum but refer back to the fact those laws enacted at a very early stage in our countries development have served us well to limit the number and proliferation of the ones used the most frequently to commit violent crimes.
Those early laws and the many decades of their practice in Canada are directly responsible for the development of that culture you speak of, in a slightly different direction than yours.
We have learned from your experience and the majority of Canadians would agree that a relaxing of our laws AND outlook towards especially a particular type of firearm would not be in our best interests.
Would I be open to the idea of that being forced to change in the future? As a realist you bet your bippy. I'm well aware of a lifetime of watching our progress the fact a line in the dirt is all that separates our two countries; we cannot stave off the effects of a far larger, way more influential demographic we share a border with, either the bad OR the good, forever.
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I agree with most of what you say except the fact that less restrictive gun ownership laws are directly responsible for the difference of societal and cultural habits that makes America a more violent society compared to Canada...guns are not the cause....
I also disagree with the term "gun culture" as a cover label for tendency to violence and social alienation.
I'm an avid gun collector, I go regularly to the range to spend fun time and there are people from all walk of life, professionals, blue collars public employees, lawyers, doctors, carpenters, mail men, accountants and so on...
In my experience, law abiding gun owners are among the most responsible, less prone to violence people you could possibly imagine.
The gun nuts fringe portrayed in the media are a tiny fraction of gun ownership in America...and even in that circle a tiny fraction of them commit crimes or are violent in nature.
The fact that I would not hesitate a bit to defend myself with a firearm if someone break into my house threatening my family does not make me a violent person.
Having a gun at your hip does not make it easier to suddenly become violent...you are violent in nature already or you are not....going back to your example, I would be very afraid of someone willing to shoot someone in a road rage accident even without a gun....that person would be very dangerous regardless.