Posted on 09/17/2006 9:46:19 AM PDT by Heartofsong83
Tearing the registry down when it is clearly working would be a terrible waste, argues Wendy Cukier
Sep. 17, 2006. 01:00 AM WENDY CUKIER
Although the evidence shows clearly that Canada, and particularly Quebec, is much safer since 1989, the year of the Montreal massacre, the Dawson College shootings remind us how vulnerable we are and how much more can be done. All the Dawson facts are not yet known; but we do know we need to maintain and strengthen our gun laws.
While no law can prevent all tragedies, licensing gun owners and registering guns reduces the risks that dangerous people will have access to weapons. And while support for police investigations, border controls and effective justice responses are important, the primary focus must be on prevention. A focus only on deterrence is doomed to fail.
The response of the gun lobby and its political allies has been predictable. It claims the Dawson shooting "proves" gun control doesn't work because legally obtained guns were used. When Justice Minister Vic Toews introduced legislation repealing the registration of rifles and shotguns, he claimed that because only two such weapons were used in homicides it also "proved" the registry doesn't work.
Some pro-gun advocates have even maintained, in recent letters to this newspaper, that the tragedy "proves" more guns are needed, that if we carried concealed weapons as they do in the U.S., we would be safer. This flies in the face of reality: If arming for self-protection worked, the U.S. would be the safest country in the world. It clearly is not.
No law can prevent all gun violence. However, the evidence does support the argument that industrialized countries with higher rates of gun ownership also have higher rates of death. Canada, the U.S., Britain and Australia have comparable rates of violence generally but lethal violence — homicide — is much higher in the U.S. In 2004 for example, 175 Canadians were murdered with firearms compared to more than 10,000 south of the border.
We need to start with a clear understanding of the problem. The claim that we are punishing law-abiding gun owners, by requiring that they obtain a licence and register their weapons, ignores the real risks associated with gun ownership and the importance of ensuring that owners are carefully screened and held accountable.
The claim that we should focus on "the criminal element" ignores the fact that many of the guns used by "criminals" — for example, the handgun in the Toronto Boxing Day murder — come from legal gun owners and that a criminal record is not the only risk factor.
Suggestions that rifles and shotguns are harmless "tools" ignores the reality that long guns in the wrong hands are just as deadly as handguns. Most of the police officers killed in recent years have been killed with rifles and shotguns. If we don't acknowledge what the real problems are, we can hardly undertake effective solutions.
In Canada, major public safety organizations, including national police groups, continue to defend the existing legislation. The law is not perfect. Certainly too much money was spent on the registry. But tearing down the system now that it is working would be a terrible waste.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wendy Cukier, a professor at Ryerson University, is president of the Coalition for Gun Control.
She has departed Earth's orbit. How's the weather on Planet Zongo, Wendy?
Is that name pronounced "KOOK-ee-er"?
I think so.
The Left has never seen a wasteful and ineffective government program it didn't love.
Let's compromise, all those in favor of the Canadian Gun Registry like Wendy Cukier will be prohibited from ever owning or operating ANY kind of firearm whatsoever. They will also be required to post signs at their residences "GUN FREE ZONE", bumper stickers on their vehicles that proclaim "NO GUNS IN VEHICLE", and always wear a five inch diameter button on their clothing when in public that says "I AM UNARMED".
The rest of the public can proceed to own firearms and defend themselves if need be.
If the voluntarily self-disarmed good citizens shouldn't survive the wait time if summoning police via 911?
Oh well, it's a small price to pay for seeking a peaceful society.
Are these people working for the Jamaican posses or what?
What is the safest country in the world? What are the laws on firearms in that country?
"While no law can prevent all tragedies, licensing gun owners and registering guns reduces the risks that dangerous people will have access to weapons. "
This assumes that dangerous people are law-abiding and will try to register a gun. What has this woman been smoking?
The claim that we should focus on "the criminal element" ignores the fact that many of the guns used by "criminals" — for example, the handgun in the Toronto Boxing Day murder — come from legal gun owners and that a criminal record is not the only risk factor.
What's up with the quotes? And why is she implying that the legal gun owners are the real criminals? That's a rhetorical question - I already know the answer.
Wendy Cukier, a professor at Ryerson University, is an idiot.
Great link in your #15 post backhoe!!!!
The comments were so on point, and some really put it to the gun registration backers.
Thanks for the link!!
BTTT #15 bookmark and bump!!
Glad you liked it- Free Dominion is our sister site, my fallback when FR is down or slow, and home to many fine Canadians. EdS is a good guy.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
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