Quote:
Originally Posted by White Doors
Good luck.
And I was pointing out that a high % of gun ownership does not equal more crime on it own. There are some asking for guns to be banned. While their hearts may be in the right place, it is a knee-jerk reaction that will only make them feel better about themselves and do absolutely nothing about the homicide rate. (in fact is could make it worse as happened in GB)
Was I wrong?
I'm just asking people to look at facts.
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I could point out that another poster has provided statistical evidence to contradict your claim about Great Britain. But that is beside the point to me anyway. Gun control as a general social issue (though I do favour reasonable controls on guns) is not the same question as whether more guns will make a
school safer. To me, it's a no brainer. There shouldn't be guns in the halls where our children are trying to learn. Students shouldn't have 'em. Teachers shouldn't have 'em. Principal Rambo shouldn't have 'em. I'm not even sure we disagree on this issue.
Gun control debates generally devolve into one side saying "gun control doesn't reduce gun violence on its own," and the other side saying "guns don't make us safer." Boiled down in that form, I hope we can all agree that it's at least possible for both statements to be true. Gun violence in the U.S. is off the charts for a developed country--but that may well have to do with systemic issues other than the simple presence of a lot of guns. There are plenty of guns in Canada--yet proportionately much less gun violence. Why? Probably due to the existence of a more stable society with less crime in general.
For me, gun control is about regulating the existence of deadly firearms and tracking them adequately so that when they're used in crimes they can be traced to their owner easily, making gun crimes easier to solve. I don't see why we can't accommodate the gun-lobby's desire for the "right" to own guns (a right that is incidentally NOT enshrined in the Canadian constitution, FWIW) and a desire on the part of society to be able to bring the criminals who use those guns for violence to swift justice. If we can agree on that, it becomes a matter of implementation.