One topic of conversation that gets me riled is the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and people insisting that gives them the inalienable right to carry any weapon they choose - either concealed or in plain sight.
What they so conveniently ignore is the first part of that Amendment: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."
The definition of "militia" is "A military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency" or "all able-bodied civilians eligible by law for military service".
Therefore, by that reasoning, a gun owner should be educated and trained in the proper use and storage of a firearm. On top of that, said owner ideally should be a member of a trained unit of some form, whether it be a militia, the police, the National Guard, or the Army. All those units are regulated and the types of firearms allowed in each are specified by law. (Contrary to popular belief, the National Rifle Association is not a military unit even though they like to think they are.)
However that's not how the system in the U.S. works. Just about anyone can walk into a shop and purchase a gun after going through a rudimentary background check, and sometimes not even that. Adding to the confusion is that the regulations concerning licensing and registration in each state vary considerably.
What's worse is that many web sites perpetuate myths about guns and how "X would not have happened if someone had been armed". Studies have clearly shown that if a gunman sees that you also have a gun, you are more likely to be shot and killed than the other way around.
Speaking of gun myths, someone I know who is very pro-gun shared a photo from a Facebook page called Alien Gear Holsters. That photo and others like it on the page show Fred Rogers of TV fame holding a weapon of some type and saying "Not in my neighbourhood". I take a huge exception to people using images like that, and I called out the creator of the photo. Several members of the group told me about how Mr. Rogers had served in the military and was awarded medals for the kills he accomplished in Vietnam, and how he wore long sleeves on TV to cover his tattoos.
All wrong.
Fred Rogers never served in the military. According to his official biography he studied music and the ministry, and went directly from college into the media. The reason he wore long sleeves was to maintain formality and convey authority to his audience. There are statements on official U.S. military web sites that Mr. Rogers never served. So when I asked the hecklers on Alien Gear Holsters to show me the proof, naturally they shut up.
Here in Canada our gun laws are much more sane. The statistics on gun-related incidents per annum prove it. For example, the number of firearm-related deaths in Canada in 2013 was 1.97 per 100,000 people.
In the United States for the same year it was 10.5.
Think about that.
There is much more voilence in the USA, then the media portrays. I love the fact that the US was built on allowing the citizens the right to bare arms.
ReplyDeleteI like that Canada's laws are much tighter than in the US. I know it's a controversial subject, but the stats seem to speak for themselves... less guns = less deaths from guns.
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