Gun Ownership and Gun Control in Canada
The Oscar-won documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ has aroused people’s
awareness of gun ownership and gun control issues. Should gun
ownership be banned or should guns be controlled?
Does gun ownership create a violent society? The answer is not
measurable, however, from the firearm situation between America and
Canada, the answer is more obvious. America probably has the highest
rate of gun ownership in the world. In Canada, the percentage of
Canadian households with a rifle is approximately equal to the level
in United States. According to the statistics of gun murder rates
around the world from ‘Bowling for columbine’, America has 11,127 gun
accidents while Canada merely has 165. Is the number of gun ownerships
a main factor behind a violent society? Indeed weapon does not commit
crimes, the perpetrator does. As well, most crimes do not involve
licensed gun owners. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimated the
pool of illegal handguns in Canada to be about 50,000. Shockingly, in
New York City alone, conservative estimation put the number of illegal
handguns at over 700,000. Well, it seems the firearm problem in United
States is worsened by the illegal gun owners. So, who should own guns?
To the members of NRA (National Rifle Association), anyone who
interested in shooting should own a gun; however, guns are more
destructive weapons than knives. Therefore guns should only be
legalized for certain occupations or certain purposes. Occupations
such as policemen, bank or airport security guards and farmers should
be allowed to use guns. For leisure gun sport activities, guns should
be o...
... middle of paper ...
... law
system, however not all illegal applicants can! Some politicians
strongly support bans on gun uses will solve the firearm problems more
effectively. Significantly, bans on guns will indeed raise the demand
for illegal guns underground, which makes it harder for police to
control gun uses. i.e. a FAC gun control system in Canada works very
effectively due to the fact that fewer guns are traded in black
market.
‘Useless laws weaken necessary laws.’
--- Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1775)
Importantly, gun ownership doesn’t create a violent society, but
lenient gun control does. Nevertheless, bans do not make something
disappear, rather harder to control! Therefore a strict, uniform
federal gun control system is far more essential so as to ensure no
collateral effects of any gun uses!
Recently, there has been an issue in Canada on whether individual citizens can have their own handguns or not. Some believe that gun control is absolutely necessary to prevent people from becoming victims of gun crimes, while others maintain the exact opposite view. I agree with the latter, but I also think it is appropriate for the government to regulate the gun-dealing business. First of all, disarming the ordinary people punished the law-abiding citizens, secondly, no clear evidence links gun availability with gun violence, and lastly, with laws to rule the gun-dealing industry, it will not be a concern that people will be shot by a legal gun buyer who is in the heat of passion to kill.
“Cassie Culpepper, 11, was in the back of a pickup truck with her brother and two other family members. Her brother was playing with the pistol his father lent him to scare coyotes with. Believing he had removed all the bullets, he pointed the pistol at his sister and squeezed the trigger. It fired and killed her on impact. (NY Times)” This is a true story that happened in the US because they allow personal firearms to everyday citizens. This could happen in Canada if we allow registration of personal guns to be abolished. Canada has a reputation as a safe and peaceful country. To keep this reputation and to keep Canadian citizens safe, Canada needs to maintain its strict gun control. Canada can stay a safer country without personal firearms because it causes homicides, suicides and accidental murders.
There has been considerable debate recently in Canada over the issue of gun control. The Canadian parliament enacted the Firearms Act to enforce gun control by requiring gun owners to register their firearms. Just recently, the government of Alberta lead in a charge, including five other provinces and numerous pro-gun groups, complaining that the law is unconstitutional and intrudes on provincial jurisdiction. They also claim that the act infringes on property and civil rights that are guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Parliament contends that the government of Canada is within its rights to protect public safety. Pro-gun control organizations, police chiefs and the City of Toronto also back the Firearms Act. The enacting of the Firearms Act by the government of Canada is legitimately constitutional and is within the jurisdiction of Parliament as it only seeks to protect the well being of Canadians. Furthermore, this legislation does not intrude on provincial jurisdiction because it is a representation of all Canadian’s rights.
life . Is it our right to bear arms as North Americans ? Or is it privilege? And
Gun Control is an important issue to Canadians. Canada has both provincial and federal legislation that restricts the sale, purchase, and use of different kinds of firearms. The United States, on the other hand, do not have federal or state bills restricting the possession or use of firearms, only local laws exist there. A firearm consists of any barreled weapon from which a shot, bullet or other missile can be fired and that is capable of causing serious bodily harm or death.
Those who argue for gun control usually state guns are a part of most violent crimes. However, this is not always true. While it is true that limiting gun ownership with laws could prevent individuals from possessing guns, it does not prevent people from illegally having or using guns. Those who carry guns legally are not the problem. According to Mark Gius, the author of “Gun Ownership and the Gun Control Index”, “…only about 25% of total violent crime is committed by a person using a gun, no inferences...
Guns are not the trouble, people are. The United States is #1 in world gun ownership, and yet is only 28th in the world in gun murders per 100,000 people. The number of unintentional fatalities due to firearms declined by 58 percent between 1991 and 2011 Based on these facts, one can see the guns not the causes of gun violence. moreover, civilians who get permits take gun safety courses and have criminal background...
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
Firearms are a huge part of the American culture; guns are used for various tasks. These firearms have recently assumed a bad name due to the lawbreakers that have been doing horrible actions with them. However, anything can acquire a bad review or reputation due to incorrect usage. A pencil can receive the label a weapon if set in the wrong hands and participates in a horrific act. A pencil can be a weapon that states wrongful information or hurtful facts that can destroy people. There have been tragedies, which have given guns a nasty reputation, but shouldn’t the person have the awful reputation, the gun did not choose to take this action. I do agree that there should be stricter rules, and some banning of certain models would be good but not every gun should have to recompense for these acts. Not all Americans should have to suffer because of criminal deeds; numerous American citizens by means of hunting, self-defense or safety, and sporting events use firearms responsibly.
It may be that guns are used for violence but is that necessarily true, Fire-Arms have been around for decades and the first gun can be recorded back to 1232. They have been used in numerous amounts of wars that gave us our freedom as proud country. First and foremost it’s a fact that Canada has a lot less crimes evolving around guns then our neighbors, it is also our second amendment for the right to bear arms. Guns are not really something that can hop up and leave at a moment’s notice it’s kind of a big deal. Secondly not every place in the world is crime heavy and or populated by negligent people. People in Canada are lucky and have a really good education system which in turn helps with preventing the growth of a potential psychopathic person. Also people shouldn’t be judged because of the crimes of a single person that is not mentally stable. Citizens in Canada are factually known to be one the nicest race of people in the world. Lastly it is proven that laws In Canada regarding fire-arms is immaculately strict. Overall fire-arms have never been a really large problem in Canada, crimes are still committed but that is impossible to stop. Guns should remain legal in Canada however it should stay very difficult to get. People need something to use to hunt defend them and their families, taking that away leave’s the people in Canada vulnerable. Here are some arguments for the defense; if fire-arms were to be completely illegal in Canada it would dramatically reduce all the gun related crimes` to the bare minimum. Fire-arms are the third leading cause to death among young people in Canada. However completely removing fire-arms in Canada is just like ...
According to “Capital Punishment, Gun Ownership, and “Homicide”, it is attempting to answer “two controversial questions, both related to the problem of interpersonal violence in America.” One of the questions asks if “the use of the death penalty exert any measurable influence on the rate of homicide in the U.S.?” and the other asks “what relationship, if any, exists between the level of gun ownership and the level of homicidal violence?” (G. Kleck, 1979)
For many years, America has witnessed mass shootings within it’s borders. In 2015 alone, there were 372 mass shootings (Oldham). The question most Americans are faced with is: do we need more gun control or is gun control the problem? With more gun control, it can be made mandatory that protective devices are used on firearms to prevent accidental harm. Gun control creates mandatory laws such as the requirement for an individual to pass a background check before he/she is permitted to purchase a firearm. Gun control has also been proven to prevent suicides due to the increased difficulty of obtaining a firearm. Those who believe that gun control is the problem claim that by removing one 's firearms, you are endangering them to threats that
There is an American consensus for some form of gun control. “…[F]irearms were involved in two-thirds of all murders in the United States and [t]he United States leads the world's richest nations in gun deaths…murders, suicides, and accidental deaths due to guns - according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the International Journal of Epidemiology” (Lepore). There might be some far extreme people who think that all guns should be banned but most sane Americans do not think that gun rights should be abolished. Americans regard self-defense as the most compelling reason to have a gun and twenty-two percent of households have handguns in the United States. However many people do think that gun control laws must be enacted and enforced. Pro-gun extremists and the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) must understand that there is a real for many people at the uncontrolled s...
Will gun control stop harm or protect citizens? Today, the opinions of Americans vary on whether guns harm or protect citizens. However, gun control is not a new controversial issue. In 1924, U.S. Senator, Robert La Follete, said, “Our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” This proves that gun control has been a concern to Americans since the mid- twentieth century, and possibly even earlier than that. Even with the U.S. laws limiting the access of guns, it has not stopped the misuse of guns. Thirteen school shootings have been recorded in the United States within the first six weeks of 2014. Gun control is an effort to stop crimes by limiting who can access guns. Guns are very powerful weapons that have a great impact on society. They can change a family’s life forever. The destruction they cause cannot be reversed or taken back, and one trigger could take a person’s life away. For these reasons, government interference is needed to restrict the harm guns can cause. The U.S. government should place more limitations on guns because of the carelessness and misuse of guns, which has led to an increasing number of crimes and violent actions against the innocent.
Thirty-five per cent more likely to be shot to death than Canadians are to die of a fall” (Paperny, 2015). Gun control is a huge problem in the United States and I believe that only United States Marine Corps, Armed Forces, and Navy should have access to guns. I understand that Americans want to own a gun for their own individual protection reasons; furthermore we have police officers and military support for that sole reason of protection. Some people may say that if there were stricter gun regulations, less people would have guns, less guns would be shot and shooting rates would decrease. Additionally school shootings would not be such a prevalent problem. Furthermore, this idea is proven many times to be