Free Republic

Taking Exception: Punishing criminals just isn't enough to prevent handgun violence REBECCA THOMAN In her recent Viewpoint column, Sen. Pat Pariseau defends the new conceal-carry law because it imposes sanctions on those who misuse weapons ("The sky didn't fall," April 29). Punishing criminals, she believes, is the best means to reduce gun violence. So she calls for tougher sentencing for violent felons. While I agree that violent felons should be prosecuted, punishing criminals is not enough because gun violence is seldom related to crime. Rather, it results from ready access to lethal weapons during times of anger, despair and conflict....

A prominent criminologist has slammed a claim from Industry Minister Allan Rock that the controversial gun registry will save 1,240 lives in a decade. Mr. Rock -- who introduced the registry when he was justice minister seven years ago -- spent much of last week defending the program and its billion-dollar cost overrun revealed last week by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser. At one point, he said the registry had saved 300 lives a year. In Vancouver last Friday, he repeated the claim that the registry has had a direct impact on the number of gun-related deaths in Canada. "You have to...

FORT McCOY — A Fort McCoy woman who killed an alligator with a shotgun last month and cooked gator tail for dinner admitted Monday to shooting the state-protected reptile because it had gotten dangerously close to her children. Donna Marie Brown, 31, of Fort McCoy, who pleaded guilty Monday in misdemeanor court, said she killed the alligator in mid-February after she spotted it behind her home, lying on the bank of a small creek in a swampy area near Bully Lake. Brown retrieved a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and fired. ''I wasn't going to stand for it,'' said Brown, who moved...