Quite frankly, I don´t want to write this. The subject is one of the most controversial of our time. Going back to the early 90s in both Canada and the U.S., we have had gun control laws enacted and retracted. It´s a constant battle for lobbyists on both sides. Each side has numerous stats, studies, examples and passionate reasons for why “it should be this way” or what exactly is common sense.
Much like any protracted battle, neither side trusts the other to compromise. So no common middle ground is available, and never will be. Personally, I do not want to compromise with the anti-gun crowd as I think they are much like the climate change lobby. They are far too emotional, and whatever we “give them”, they will just continue to come back for more. That said, I feel we do a pretty poor job at addressing the core problem. Ultimately, I believe that many factors will someday see the end of civilian firearms ownership, and yes, I mean even innocuous “hunting guns” that Grampa used to own. Obviously this troubles me, especially when I think that children in my family will not get the same enjoyment out of firearms ownership that I had as a kid, and now have as an adult. Factors in this are of course an increasing lack of personal responsibility in society, continued urbanization etc. What can we do? Well, it goes without saying that gun owners need to massively increase their involvement with the myriad of pro-gun orgs - that´s an easy one. Get active and give them money. And also, it goes without saying, demand results and a cohesive strategy from them. But I think we need to open up a “new front” in the battle. And for me this is not just about gun control - it really and truly is common sense. I´m not going to cite studies or make sweeping statements, let´s just keep this simple. We need criminal control. If you read the news, either nationally or locally for long enough, you will see a trend…“Crime committed by a criminal with a history of violence”. It’s usually drug related, but that´s another discussion. Usually the media will say it´s a gun crime or “gun attack”, but let´s just leave that at the door. This issue is as simple or complex as you wish to make it. One example is that of the murderer Shawn Rehn. With a lengthy criminal record of violence and weapon possession stretching back to 1999, he finally committed murder in January 2015, killing an RCMP Constable, and wounding another in a casino in St. Albert, AB. He committed this crime with an illegally carried/acquired handgun. In his defense, he did give us, as a society, fair warnings on his intentions. 38 convictions ranging from failure to appear, escalating to assaulting his spouse and robbery (and a few weapons charges sprinkled in). Ironically, at the time when he murdered the police officer, he was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear at a court date - the 4th time he had been charged with failing to appear. If only we could have seen it coming. This tragic episode cost the life of a person who was doing his job and trying to protect us. His life could have completely been prevented, no crystal ball needed. Imagine if a bank or company operated in this fashion - “I know you have failed to pay our money back, but let´s now lend you more for the fourth time, maybe with no evidence to the contrary it will be different.” A second example to that would be August 2016 in Toronto…a convicted bank robber used a combination of a crossbow and his bare hands to murder 3 people (I won´t use his name as he has not been convicted yet). If only we had had a warning of his criminal intentions, other than his 29 charges related to bank robbing. I´m going to go out on a limb and say a 3-year sentence did not deter his criminal ambitions. Again, fool me once… We can´t blame the police, the prosecutors or the politicians because they work for us. We allow these repeat offenders to walk the streets and continue to commit violence. It´s far easier for the social justice warriors to call for controls on an inanimate object, rather than reform the criminal justice system. As legal firearms owners, we allow ourselves to be painted by our opponents with the “criminality brush”, as how do they tell us from the “bad guys”. So let´s make it easy for them - put the “bad guys” in jail….and keep them there. This is not just about firearms rights, it´s about the right for all of us to be safe. So there. Rant over – for now. Matador Arms.
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AuthorLocated in Western Canada, Matador Arms provides new and exciting products to the North American firearms community. Archives
November 2016
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