WHAT IS IT WITH THE UNITED STATES AND GUNS?

We look at the United States along our southern flank and there is no question, we are glad you are there. But we don’t always understand what may be happening there – or why. We Canadians are also an adventurous lot and we have some pretty rugged territory. You don’t have to travel too far in Canada before getting into pretty rugged country. From my own home in Ontario north of Toronto to the wilderness of Ontario is only a few hours ride by car or even bus.

What does all this mean? We like the outdoors a lot up here – and we have much of that. Many of us have shown true “pioneer” spirit. Carrying a hunting rifle – even a backup handgun – is very possibly a good idea when venturing into the hugeness of undeveloped parts of Canada.

We wrestle a bit about our history and relationship to guns, but there is a key difference when it comes to mass shootings and all forms of gun violence. There is no right to own guns in Canada, As noted in the recent New York Times Canada Letter, “Legal handguns are a significant source of handguns used in crime and are the guns most often used in mass shootings,” according to Wendy Corker, the President of the Coalition for Gun Control (Canada).

What will finally shake out in Canada regarding guns is still somewhat unknown but what is known that Canada has lost no time in freezing the selling, gifting, trading and importing of handguns. Up here, we know that we do not have a “constitutional right to bear arms”. All we can do, is handle the 900,000 handguns we know that are in private hands, but we also know there will be no more handguns in private hands and that military style assault rifles in private hands is now banned and a buy-back program is in force.

Good luck to our neighbors in the States.