I'm agin' it, frankly, because it seems to be a misdirection of political energy. The Star gives a figure of 30 per cent stolen from legitimate owners, 70 per cent smuggled from the U.S.
So why isn't more energy, any energy, being directed at stopping smuggling from over the U.S. border? Down in Arizona they fly dirigibles along the border to keep out Coke dealers from Mexico (not that they're particularly successful). You think the Canadian government might at least make an effort to keep guns made in Texas out of Ontario.
Oh I forget. The U.S. is our largest trading partner and etc. But its not just the political Right that wants to self-flagellate to avoid offending our Yankee Masters. A lot of us Lefties would rather chase crumbs rather than stir up enough international crap to make a dent in the real handgun problem.
Also a link to Rex Murphy's column re UofT's closing the sport shooting range at Hart House. A lady I work with has represented Canada at international shooting events on several occasions. Believe it or not, it IS a real sport. But she has a hell of a time finding sponsors, because for some reason her event has been dubbed politically incorrect. And yet we don't penalize javelin throwers or archers, though their sport also involves showing facility with a weapon.
18 comments:
Meh. Ban 'em anyway and work on the smuggling. Apart from the sport shooters, these gun enthusiasts always sound like they're two seconds away from going postal (they start screeching the minute you suggest their dangerous toys have no legitimate civilian use). They certainly never strike me as the type who agitate for the measures they're constantly claiming will reduce gun crime (stiffer penalties)...that's always up to the rest of us.
Maybe while were banning handguns, we slip in some order that will shut down FreeDominion at the same time.
What? It's worth a shot...
cocaine is 100% banned and tons of flow across the border every year into Canada.
Impossible to stop smuggling unless we change the laws to make it hurt when caught. The only winner would be the Hells Angels who could raise the price of the smuggled weapons
firing squads would be a step in the right direction, but they use guns.
The problem isn't guns, it's the thugs who use them. Crack down on the thugs - minimum 10 years for each count of gun crime.
They'll get the message and just use knives instead.
cocaine is 100% banned and tons of flow across the border every year into Canada.
Cocaine can't kill me from a distance of a 100 meters.
Cocaine can't kill me from a distance of a 100 meters.
neither can a handgun . . . as one who was actually pretty good with a service 9mm back in the day, hitting anything past 30 yards was a miracle and/or luck.
I think the point was if so much coke can be moved across the border with such ease, it will be easy to keep smuggling handguns.
You can't cut off the illegal supply. Impossible. You can make it tougher, but that just puts up the price and the HA gets even richer
The bulk of these handguns (along with various assault weapons, including military grade fully automatics, RPGs, and shoulder rocket launchers) are smuggled in through the Mohawk reserves that straddle the border. Just like cigarettes. Good luck policing there. The Mohawks would never allow any sort of federal presence to disturb their lucrative import/export activities, and they've taken up arms (smuggled of course) in the past to to make that point clear.
On an unrelated topic, you'll be disappointed to hear that many blogs of various political persuasions are now blocked from federal government networks. (This I know because a friend of mine (in Winnipeg) reported that he is unable to get many of the Blogging Tories from work, including the Raging Ranter anymore.) Oddly enough, some high traffic sites, including SDA, are still accessible.
RR,
Thanks for the info. I might post your message as an update. Be interesting to know what exactly the logic behind the ban is.
I might post your message as an update.
Fact check it first. Raging Ranter is a notorious racist from Manitoba who loathes Indians (and Muslims...and liberals...and Liberals and civil servants..well, the list goes on...).
He supports "cultural chauvinism" and is convinced of the superiority of Eurorpean (read 'white') culture.
Read his blog and google his commentary. He's really quite nuts.
BCL, I'm not sure why the ban seems so hap-hazzard. SDA allowed, RR not allowed??? Jesus, I only get 15 hits a day as it is! (Mind you, I guess it doesn't help that I haven't posted since June 11.) Nor do I know whether it affects all federal government computers or just certain departments. But I'll wager a guess and speculate that the filtering software, which is updated regularly, now includes various blogging domains such as Word Press and Blogspot. I believe that SDA does not use an actual blogging service, so that could be the reason.
BCL, I apologize for Ti-Guy's impulsively responding with hate-fueled invective to my every post, often within seconds of me posting it. Don't be alarmed -- this is really quite normal behaviour for him. Very few people walk out of prison after a long incarceration without some sort of psychological trauma, and poor Ti-Guy is no exception. He's really having a tough time on the outside.
RR,
BCLSB is the last untamed blog, where the uber trolls go to sharpen their claws on one another before using them on the weak. Anyone with a bad attitude is welcome here, although I am of course an ultra Lib and so are most of the people who come here.
Your theory about the ban is interesting, although it SEEMs that not all blogspot blogs have been banned, and Bread and Roses is not really, for the most part, a blog at all (although bits of it are WordPress).
Anyway, there is still stuff to figure out about this.
Thanx.
"domestics terrorism"
That's when the maid goes bad?
Very few people walk out of prison after a long incarceration without some sort of psychological trauma, and poor Ti-Guy is no exception. He's really having a tough time on the outside.
This is what Raging considers wit. As he gets more drunk in the next few hours, he'll imply that my prison experience has left me with an insatiable desire for man-sex.
I'm serious about the fact checking, though. He is a white supremacist.
BCL, while one can't take anything Ti-Guy says too seriously, I must respond to his accusation that I am a white supremacist. I find that assertion a little confusing, coming as it did from the individual who wrote this:
Judaism is inherently racist. You just have look at how Jews handles (sic) conversion (they don’t like it). That fact alone makes Judaism an affront to God.
And, as Ti-Guy says, you should do your own fact checking. So I urge you to read the original comment.
http://myblahg.com/?p=1932
Just scroll down to post #36.
I'm sure you'll recognize the discussion, and remember the shitstorm that followed. It was Ti-Guy's comment and Rob McClelland's subsequent response that resulted in the NDP disavowing My Blagh. It also inspired Kinsella's National Post column about My Blahg the antisemitic bigots who inhabit the site.
Personally I thought Kinsella's article was a cheapshot. He targeted McClelland, when the real culprits were the unsavoury crowd of loons (including our friend Ti-Guy) who were filling his comment section with their revolting theories. Robert was guilty of nothing more than failing to weed his garden.
I do believe Judaism is inherently racist though. I don't deny that.
Blowhard politicos get to sound tough and sanctimonius at the same time when calling for an entirely useless 'ban' on handguns.
Anyone with half a brain knows that a handgun ban will do nothing to stop the kinds of shootings 'all' of Toronto gets upset about.
In the spirit of banning things though - personal computers are often used for various nefarious reasons, they should be banned.
Ask Ranting if he's had a girlfriend lately.
*snick* The fat-ass is very careful never to insult the gays...although he is fixated on prison sex.
*shudder*
So we can get rid of 30% of the hand guns used in crime by banning hand guns entirely since they are stolen from "legitiamte" owners and collectors. I say do it! 30% ain't bad in one fell swoop.
Hehehe. Fun to contaminate you with our wicked guns. Maybe we should just buy them and leave them a foot over the border. You can sneak over and grab them for free. And we will get you out of your effette Euro style to our death penatly he man red state style. ;)
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