Yes. An insane, impossible idea, and one which brings the trolls to this website, I’m sure.
Three very, very bad events have happened the last two weeks, in California, then in Moncton, New Brunswick (a place not even many Canadians take note of…our radio broadcasters in Edmonton got the capital city of New Brunswick wrong!), and another, just yesterday, in Seattle.
We Canadians take some rather misplaced pride in not having the level of gun violence the US does. I say misplaced because ANY is too much. Despite what this says.
While I was living in Scotland, a police officer was shot and killed in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. This was huge news, gigantic. I admitted to being surprised at how big the news was…a police officer was killed in the line duty – awful but true, that happens. NOT in the UK, ladies and gentlemen. Read this Guardian piece from the time…”more than 160 officers have been ‘killed in the line of duty by a criminal act’ in mainland Britain since 1900.” That was in 2005. Since 1900 ?? Know WHY that is?
Because in the UK, it’s almost impossible for even criminals to get guns. It’s all but impossible for anyone to get one.
So I have a preposterous idea. I’m writing to my (conservative) MP, and requesting that guns – whose purpose is too kill things – be subjected to the same restrictions as cars. Vehicles are recognized as useful, yet potentially dangerous items, and so the use of them is subject to the users proving they can use cars responsibly. THE SAME SHOULD GO FOR GUNS. Rifles of any kind, hunting, recreational in a gun range, doesn’t matter. Anyone who wants to buy a gun has to go through a GRADUATED licensing program. And, at certain periods, gun owners will be required to undergo a test to prove they are still sound and capable gun users. Part of that test will be proving you have done the utter utmost to make certain no one else can get your gun or its ammunition. IF THEY FAIL the test, THEY LOSE THEIR GUN. And, AND, the government could usefully track something: instead of eavesdropping on cellphones, why not use all the technology and manpower instead to track who is building and selling guns, and to WHO.
I’m sick of this argument, which shouldn’t even BE an argument. Guns are for killing – in the hands of responsible people, they kill animals for eating. And if someone breaks into a responsible gun owner’s house, that gun is then apt to get to someone who will kill people. I’m sick of guns getting into the hands of, and remaining with, people who shouldn’t have them, and I’m REALLY sick people being surprised when others are killed as a direct result of those people having guns.
Let’s prove that we are better than the US on this. PROVE IT.