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Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
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Well I also posted before you went back and said maybe you should have said populated instead of residential (or whatever the clarification was) so I was a bit confused on what you exactly meant too.
I think most (or at least a slim majority) of those people, gun owners or not, would be against shooting something for no reason. It shouldn't matter if its a skunk, or a moose, or a polar bear. A fair hunt is one thing, just shooting things for the sake of killing them is quite another.
I don't even like it when people shoot at gophers. Now I know I'm on the left end of that stance, and I also know some land owners have to, but I think it's wasteful and immoral to kill anything when you don't have to. And as someone mentioned, shooting the skunk is probably going to cause as much stink as if he sprayed anyway. Just leave the poor thing alone.
I actually did know a land owner that had to control the marmot population on his land, and he didn't feel great about shooting them either. I know some people really get off on it, but I would guess it's not as high as the amount of people that think it's ok to own a firearm. I know a lot of people who like to own a gun but don't want to kill stuff.
So yeah, I think that the whole shooting at something in the dark, that may or may not be a live animal (or child) is pretty silly and most people would be against it. I think most people would be against discharging a firearm in a residential or populated area, and I think most people would be against shooting animals outside of a fair hunt. These were the original points behind the argument. Do I think most Canadians are for responsible gun ownership? Of course. But so much about this story isn't responsible and even the first way you framed the question was confusing.
I'm pretty sure most Canadians would be against discharging a firearm even at a supposed skunk if there is even 1% there might be children in the area, or the person might miss, or they were in a residential area of some sort. Again it's the difference between responsible gun use, and reckless gun use. Which a lot of Americans don't seem to know the difference between. Even their laws reflect this.
