- Reaction score
- 9,249
- Points
- 1,260
Loachman said:The social problems - racial, gangs (often race-based), and lack of mental health - are key, but ease of access isn't, not by law-abiding citizens, at least, and they're the only ones affected by restrictive laws.
As I have said several times, the vast majority of homicides are gang-related, and occur in very specific neighbourhoods in large cities. Eliminate the gang problem, and the US homicide rate would look remarkably like ours. There is, strangely, no serious call to do that. It is easier to blame the tools and seek to restrict those than blame the people committing the violence and do something serious about them.
recceguy said:How many times have we defended our position. We've given the same answers to the same questions from those that have absolutely no intent of ever trying to comprimise. Save your breath.
I'm not looking at gangland shootings, I'm looking at mass shootings and public massacres, generally targetting random bystanders or at least killing random bystanders who are near the target. A small percentage of the total? Sure. Something happening with disturbing regularity? Flipping through Canada's history, I see Ecole Polytechnique (1989 - 14), Concordia (1992 - 4), Vernon Shooting (1996 - 10), Mayerthorpe (2005 - 5), Moncton (2014 - 3), Edmonton (2014 - 9), La Loche School (2016 - 6), Quebec Mosque Shooting (2016 - 6). While I might of missed a few, I count 57 dead over 3 decades. The guy in Vegas killed more than that in the span of minutes. Look at the body counts in the US. Texas (2017 - 26), Vegas (2017 - 58), Orlando (2016 - 49), San Bernadino (2015 - 16), Washington Naval Yard (2013 - 12), Sandy Hook (2012 - 28), Aurora Theater (2012 - 12), Fort Hood (2009 - 13), Binghampton (2009 - 14), Virginia Tech (2007 - 32).
Eliminate the gangland problem, but it doesn't address the repeated cases of public shootings in the US. The fact that we don't have dozens of fatalities a year in schools and theaters in Canada means there is something different here - a mix of culture and legislation on access. You can keep defending your position, and the bodies will keep piling up south of the border, so don't be surprised if nobody in Canada is sympathetic to your argument.