leanin’ left with a trigga, yo

ok, the Liberal plan to ban hand guns really has my brain in a knot… now let me tell you why.. at first glance, in point form, and over the short-term, a ban on handguns:

• will not reduce homicides, or gang activity;
• will not reduce the use of handguns by criminals;
• will not reduce the supply of illegal handguns;
• actually discriminates against law-abiding citizens, who already have registered handguns; and,
• creates criminals out of currently registered owners unless they become ‘legitimate target shooters who meet strict requirements’ (extra fees not included)

i love it when i hear conservative ‘thinkers’ like Mr. Ralph Klein say things like: “I can ban anything. I can ban tape recorders, by law. It’s not going to stop you from using them” (from the cbc)

and he is 100% right. for instance, if the government decides to ban, steak knives, people will not take advantage of amnesty efforts, or buy-back programs… and it is simply because people need their knives to help facilitate steak consumption (also something klein would appreciate me saying :P)… anyways, most citizens do not use their supply/collection of knives to kill people, even though stabbings do account for the highest proportion of homicides in canada. (statcan)

ok, i’m getting off track here, so lets just assume knives will never be banned since they are essential to human survival, and get back to handguns; since we all know that handguns really only exist to shoot people. if we push politics aside for a moment, and forget about the short-term Liberal intension to gain popularity in urban-canada… we can focus on the long-term effects of a canadian handgun ban and see that over the long-term a ban on handguns:

• will strengthen our socially progressive canadian culture, by providing controls to dampen the need/desire for a handgun;
• will reduce the proportion of homicides caused by handguns, by eliminating the need for gangstas to partake in a self-defeating arms race; and thus,
• will result in a safter society, less reliant on handguns.

Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter, in The Rebel Sell, suggest that differences in “…culture are a consequence of the differences in laws and institutions” and well, this is most clearly seen by comparing us to our friend directly south, where “two-thirds of all homicide victims were killed with a firearm in 2003, [which was] more than double the proportion seen in Canada.” (from statcan) … obviously since canada already has stricter gun laws than the americans.

Ok, so i didn’t really prove anything with this post, and i am still really torn on the issue, even though i am clearly leading a little left…. any thoughts?