Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Why won't the Libs help make our streets safer?

Slava · 07-24-2007, 09:38 PM

[quote=CaptainCrunch;950434]I don't think banning handguns is the answer to be honest, right at the moment they have to be licensed and registered, doing a ban on handguns is fairly useless as the majority of crimes are performed with unlicenced illegal handguns so a ban would be cosmetic at best.

I mean we all talk about the ban on handguns in the UK, but statistically there were 9900 crimes involving firearms in the UK in 2003, which was up 35% from the year before. In 2005 there were over 10,000 gun related crimes in the UK.

http://alphecca.com/mt_alphecca_archives/000904.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2640817.stm
[quote].

I'm really on the fence on this (surprising, I know!). Longer prison sentences have never reduced crime but they are constantly bandied about as a solution. Truth be told the best thing to reduce crime is a strong economy and good living conditions for those worst off in our society.

There will always be an element of society that will commit murder, rape and other horrific crimes. Some of these are crimes of passion and some are just people who are sick in the head or have other short-comings. No matter what the justice system does with these people though, they will still commit the crime in the first place.

If your going to promote a ban, then you certainly have to stiffen the consequences of using a firearm, which should be the same punishment as using an unlicenced or unregistered weapon.

I'm all for the proposed changes to the justice system with the one change being if you commit a crime with an unregistered gun, you never ever get out of prison.

07-24-2007, 09:38 PM	#20
Slava Franchise Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Calgary, Alberta Exp:	[quote=CaptainCrunch;950434]I don't think banning handguns is the answer to be honest, right at the moment they have to be licensed and registered, doing a ban on handguns is fairly useless as the majority of crimes are performed with unlicenced illegal handguns so a ban would be cosmetic at best. I mean we all talk about the ban on handguns in the UK, but statistically there were 9900 crimes involving firearms in the UK in 2003, which was up 35% from the year before. In 2005 there were over 10,000 gun related crimes in the UK. http://alphecca.com/mt_alphecca_archives/000904.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2640817.stm [quote]. I'm really on the fence on this (surprising, I know!). Longer prison sentences have never reduced crime but they are constantly bandied about as a solution. Truth be told the best thing to reduce crime is a strong economy and good living conditions for those worst off in our society. There will always be an element of society that will commit murder, rape and other horrific crimes. Some of these are crimes of passion and some are just people who are sick in the head or have other short-comings. No matter what the justice system does with these people though, they will still commit the crime in the first place. If your going to promote a ban, then you certainly have to stiffen the consequences of using a firearm, which should be the same punishment as using an unlicenced or unregistered weapon. I'm all for the proposed changes to the justice system with the one change being if you commit a crime with an unregistered gun, you never ever get out of prison.