I think that guns should be made illegal in canada

I definitely believe guns should be illegal in Canada. Yes it takes a person to pick up a gun and pull the trigger, but guns themselves should not be floating around on the streets allowing just anyone to pick it up.

I heard about this guy who got 5 head shots in a row last year. Too much video games I guess.

I definitely think that changes should be made about guns in Canada. I think that Stephen Harper's "Tackling Violent Crime Act" is the perfect way of doing it. Having a minimum jail sentence for people that use a gun will make people think twice about pulling their gun out. Hopefully this will be one step towards banning them all together.

I heard that in the United States they are trying to make it legal for people to have guns on them while drinking in bars. My dad said this is a good way to kill Americans let them get drunk and shoot themselves. Hes pretty funny I think but it shows how America loves their second amendment even though its more about having a militia then having random people with guns

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YORK; Honors Arts - History Major/German minor? '12

well actually, japan has a very steadily increasing youth crime rate, especially with murders (not like gang-related, but more like first or second degree family/relationship violent crimes), and they've got plenty of pedophiles to make up for that...

And I totally agree with gun control, as I hate guns. I really do. They are for cowards, and I have friends in street gangs, and they've told me how much harder it is to stab a guy than it is to just shoot him, and they always try to justify w/e by saying that whoever got shot "had it coming" cuz of how they didn't pay up or screwed someone over, which is idiotic. No one deserves to die to be an example, it's a fine way to regress into a terror state, especially with 13-17 year olds. And you know what? Guns just make it easier to kill for both sides, and i hate the attitudes that it creates/creates more gun use. Yes, our society is americanizing in our love of drama/violence over the past several years, but we still haven't surpassed our 1970s peak of homicide rates.

Anyways, society doesn't change unless the people change it. Yeah, there are idiots who kill, but you are 5000000% more likely to die in a car accident, or from the fatty fast foods that we consume. And with this attitude of self-defense, the more we arm, the more guns we have in circulation, and the more chances there are for accidents. It's the same with nuclear proliferation; they're both good for the owner, but suck for the neighbours. I agree that people will always have access to guns on street markets or w/e, but it's gonna be hell of a lot more expensive if they're less available, and have to be shipped/stolen from much further places. Ever seen that Chris Rock standup gig with the $5000 bullets? well I totally agree with that too, it's a great form of gun control. Why not tax bullets and arms 10000 % like we do with alcohol/tobacco too? it's much more likely to cause injuries (which OHIP or gov't healthcare will have to pay for) than the other 2 anyways.

Lastly, Small arms are responsible for 90% of civillian deaths worldwide, and there's a reason for that.

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"My parents live in Ohio; I live in the moment." -himym.

How many people have actually died from that situation? Probably not even 100 in the past 10 years.

So basically you're saying hunting should be illegal, along with sport shooting. Canada already has very strong gun laws.

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-Stringer

You aren't allowed to own an MP5 in Canada...

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-Stringer

I am by no means pro-gun.

However, interestingly enough, backyard pools are FAR more dangerous than guns in the house. One of the many interesting conclusions in Freakonomics

In addition, it is always good to keep in mind that Canada's overall homicide rate is quite low, and that of those who are murdered, more are stabbed than shot.




There is very little evidence out there that increasing mandatory minimum sentences actually deters crime. Furthermore, increasing sentences uses up a LOT of money that could be used elsewhere on prevention. Keeping one person in jail for a year in Canada costs about $90,000. How many kids can an organization like the Boys and Girls club keep out of gangs with that much funding?

It sort of assumes that criminals are making completely rational decisions and weighing the specific penalty for the type of crime they are going to commit against the likelihood of getting caught against their perceived gains from the crime. They generally don't really know exactly what the penalty is, and they either think they won't get caught, or, in some cases, are so emotional/drunk/needing money for their drug habit that they don't care. I suppose there's probably another category in there of people who have gotten involved with gangs, where they feel that the consequences of NOT doing the crime (i.e. repercussions from the gang) are worse than the potential consequences of doing something. While I do agree that the idea that you could go to jail for something is generally a pretty good deterrent, and that, if, for instance, there was a policy of throwing everyone who sped over 20km/h over the limit in jail it would substantially reduce speeding, there's very little difference of saying that, for instance, if you go and rob a gas station with a knife that's 3 years, if you go and rob it with a gun that's 5 years. Now, I'm making up those figures because, like most criminals, I honestly have no idea what the penalty is for various kinds of armed robbery, but I believe those numbers are somewhere around right.

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I would be interested to see the proportion of shootings and/or gun murders committed with registered vs. unregistered guns. One thing I did come across is that the majority of murders with guns are linked to gangs.

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