Let's Put All Those Evil Guns in Jail

 

Liberal Party leader Steven Del Duca has announced a plan to ban handguns if his party takes power, to “protect the people of this province against gun violence.”

Would a handgun ban have any such effect? Most mass shootings happen in gun-free zones. Switzerland and Israel require all able-bodied men to own guns; their rate of gun violence is lower than Canada’s.

Arguably, if there were fewer guns, there would be fewer guns in the hands of criminals. Equally arguably, if there were fewer guns, the criminals would still have them, and nobody else would.

There are other reasons why a gun ban is a bad idea. 

Both the American Bill of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights, include the right to bear arms. Both say this is a basic human right. Why?

It follows from the right to self-defense. Not just against predatory wild animals, or predatory criminals, but against predatory government. The development of democracy in Britain has a lot to do with the fact that the English longbow could penetrate a suit of armour—a man’s home became his castle, because he could defend it against the nobility. Swiss democracy emerged because Swiss pikemen could do the same—hold off their armoured overlords. The continuing right to bear arms ensured and ensures this.

This being so, any attempt by any government to limit arms should be looked at with suspicion. Especially so soon after a peaceful protest was illegally suppressed in Ottawa.

There is yet another reason why gun control is a bad idea. Consider the current case of Ukraine. The government has passed out arms to every male citizen, and called on them to fight.

Consider the military advantage any country has in such a situation if its citizens generally know how to use a gun, and may have one in their basement. 

It has been said that the many guns in private hands make the USA unconquerable. It has kept Switzerland out of two world wars. Canada’s relative familiarity with rifles made Canadians the shock troops and flying aces of the Allied forces in two world wars. 

The cheapest and best way Canada could improve its own defense  would actually be to give or even require firearms training for all adult citizens, and hand out free guns.

I wager violent crime would go down too.