I dont disagree with you regarding better control, although I do with those that want a total ban on the grounds I wont go over again now.

My position is to look at the root cause and focus on that. Guns dont go on sprees, deranged people do. Gun control is part of the solution, but there are already many guns in North America and lots of legislation (in canada in particular where this latest attrocity is unfolding today), so more legislation is unlikely to make much impact if someone wants to go on a rampage, therefore the priority should be to deal with the person, not the guns.

Sure, I dont doubt there are specific examples. On the other hand there is no way to know what those perpetrators would have done under different circumstances.

My objection was you trying to paint some dire picture of doom and gloom for kids growing up around guns that the statistics just are not there to support. In a nation filled with guns and gun culture I think it better that my kids are exposed to that in a controlled environment, to me that seems a lot safer than them being ignorant or scared shitless of guns.

I would think it's fair to say that most of us are 'city folk'.

When lobbying to outlaw guns and rifles we do need to think about everyone within the country whether it be remote Alaska in the US, or any of the wild in Canada.

Would you guys propose that guns are legal by area or postal code?

There are some towns in Canada who only get groceries by truck in the middle of winter as there is no access during summer these people have to rely on partial hunting skills to get them through some years.

Does someone need access to guns for sport? Not really if this was the only use I would ban them in a heartbeat.

It's not a clear cut issue though and it's a lot easier to deal with in the UK than it is in North America

You can't ban or remove guns from society they are here to stay. We cannot Un-invent guns. Bans do not work, if they did we would have no heroin addicts or sex offenders now would we.

Education and intervention are the only way. Or in the case of the Moncton guy, a well placed police sniper would be suffice.

It appears to be perfectly legal to sell guns privately. Small ads in the paper, even a handwritten note on a noticeboard at the local store.

No licence to sell needed. But a private sale just seems ridiculous.

There's a gun store in town. About a year ago they were broken into with guns and ammo taken. THREE times in a matter of weeks.

If that was a hygiene violation at a restaurant they'd have been closed until it was rectified. But no flags raised about a security problem?

I'm not trying to say every child exposed is a potential mass murderer, I'm just saying it does happen & to think it will never affect you is naïve. My point is you have chosen this lifestyle knowing you are sound of mind & in complete control but your kids are not you. They have their own minds/life experiences & I think it's important to recognise that. It won't matter that you've have taught them all about gun safety if something possesses them to go on a killing spree, if anything they will be more deadly because they've had years of practice.

Just because it's a nation of gun culture doesn't mean that everyone will come into contact with guns, most do because they have chosen to. If you are unlucky to come into contact with them through some sort of crime then there's nothing you can do about it anyway as you won't be the person holding the gun. So all in all it's not really a relevant thing to teach kids, far better to teach them to just stay away from them, maybe that way this whole 'culture' thing will eventually die out.

Edit: Just to say I do see the need for farmers & people in remote places to have them but your average surbanite who just wants a hobby should take up something else

Surely to think that something with lottery winning odds is going to happen to you is naive?

I will say here and now that it will never happen to me, and neither will I win the lottery jackpot. Thats not naivety, its reality. If it does I will come back and you can all say "I told you so"

To think that the gun culture here is going to die out any time soon surely is naive.

You don't know that though do you. I'm not saying you look at it like it will happen, I'm saying you become aware there is a chance no matter how small that it could, to rule it out altogether is ignorant.

I'm sure some of these other parents of children who did it thought the same as you

How do you put that into legislation that doesn't affect human/constitutional rights?

How do you draw the boundaries or even answer the question of "Well he has one, why can't I?"

I agree, anything like that will be hard to implement. All that can really be done I suppose is to try to educate people that guns aren't a sport or hobby, sadly though I don't see that happening either

There are a lot of guns in Canada but I don't think it's fair to think of Canada as having a gun culture. IME gun owners have largely been Eastern Europeans or rural cradles. There are millions of people in Toronto and Vancouver who have no exposure to guns at all. It seems to me that allowing domestic firearms is a sop to a minority, the rural cradles, in the manner that the seal hunt indulges the aboriginal population. I think it's time for them to grow up and acknowledge that, in a highly urbanised country, there's no longer a place for the Wild West attitude they display.

There is a chance that I will be struck in the head by a meteorite too, but I dont lose sleep over that either.

Could my kids become murderers? Sure, I guess, could happen to anyone. Would the chance of that be higher for any exposure to guns. Im not buying.

Why not? well, if it could, then logically, as there are as many or more guns per person in Canada as there are in the US, dont you think the number of murderers per 100k population in Canada would be comparable to that in the USA? As I said, the stats just are not there.

Thats funny as to me it seems to mostly be people in cities like Vancouver and Toronto that are the ones shooting each other.

Don't need to walk as far

That's a horrible mismatch of unrelated sentences. The number of guns per head of population doesn't tell you anything about the likelihood of children who are taught to shoot going out and shooting.