[NBC]

The vast majority of firearms used in homicides - especially in Canada - are illegally 'smuggled' in from the US. Last set of numbers I saw, from 2007-08, was 93%. I do agree that there needs to be a certain amount of regulation and control of the sale and possession of firearms, absolutely. But a total ban on personal ownership is surely not the answer, as some are suggesting here in the UK. I agree that gun control is part of the larger solution but it is not some sort of over-arching answer to a very complex set of problems.

The point to the statistics I quoted was merely to highlight that there isn't a gun violence problem in the UK and that the current amount of legislation regarding the regulation of personal ownership does work. So for special interest groups and the media to suggest that there is a gun problem is nonsense. But that is what they do here. When gang members stab each other with knives, people want to restrict the sale of pointed kitchen knives in favour of blunt-end types, thinking that this will prevent people from being stabbed, whereas they will end up getting slashed instead. It is the ultimate in nanny-state control.

There will always be an element of society that wants to harm others, of that there is no question. This person could have got in his car and driven into a crowded shopping arcade on the high street repeatedly if he so chose. But I don't think that people would be clamoring for the banning or restriction of cars like they are now. This is why the 'banning guns' debate is so pointless right now. Legislation is effective and it is very difficult to own most types of firearms. Instead of looking at the root causes of youth gang violence or indiscriminate examples like this, time, energy and effort is spent in a less-constructive manner.