Guns are tools, and some people need guns to do some jobs - farmers, for example. Sport, yes. Hunting, yes. Handguns for personal use in the public arena? Not so much.

In order to possess a gun you should need a valid and specific reason, and I'm sorry, but in the United States of America, in the 21st Century - the greatest God-damned country in the whole God-damned world! - it's not good enough to say you need it for "protection".

If you really need a gun to keep your family safe, then you are admitting that your civilisation is ****ed. Perhaps we should send a UN Peacekeeping Force in.

True.

If someone is that twisted, it could easily be done as a stabbing rampage or a driving rampage, or a mass poisoning and this kind of thing has happened in many different countries. I guess it comes down to an increase in seriously flawed people!

What have the UN troops done to deserve being sent to places like Detroit, Chicago, LA and New Orleans?
Maybe those 2 x Icelandic members or the 3 from Grenada, or 16 from Samoa and 22 from Singapore will sort them out.

Nope, definitely designed with clays in mind,and a target 22 would hardly be first choice for a killing spree either.

Much as I agree that gun control in the US is a sacred cow in need of slaughtering, its foolish to pretend that all guns are the problem. Many casual and leasure users have never ever taken the life of any kind (mozzies excepted)

I hate to spout anything "NRA related" in this context, but its true that guns dont kill people, its the people with the gun that kill, and without a gun to fulfill their purpose they could just as easily plow through a school bus line in a stolen Caddy Escalade.

Gun control is only part of the bigger picture. Laws alone wont stop the senseless violence, after all, it is, correct me if Im wrong, illegal to murder people in the first place, right?

Guns naturally make mass murders easier to commit. How does Canadian news cover these kinds of stories, particularly on TV?


This gives a few chilling ideas about why certain cultures experience them more than others.

Perhaps a moot point as virtually everyone here watches CNN

US and Canadian media are largely indistinguishable, unless a drama or comedy happens to be "canadian content", in which case its probably distinctly second rate.

Did someone mention my name (Mr. Jossie here BTW!)

Here's a pic taken in the Kootenays. My first Buck! Filled the freezer for a while and tasted great!

Kind of like a fishing rod, wouldn't you agree? Not that I have anything against fishing

An ATV for ploughing up the trails. A caravan for holding up the traffic. And, of course, a dead thing. No wonder you're so proud to be you.

The dog and the woman in the pic don't look too impressed

Dbd33 you can't tar all shooters/hunters with the same brush,that's the same as stereotypicaly saying that:
All Englishmen are drunken football hooligans
All Scotsmen are whiskey drinking ginger haired nutters
All Muslims are terrorists
All Germans are Nazis
Anyone with half a brain knows that none of the above are true,just like not all hunters or firearms owners drive around on quads pissed and making a mess!

I rarely drink,a 12 pack of beer will sit in my fridge for months as I don't enjoy getting drunk,I don't take drugs either,I also know that I am more responsible than you are with firearms as I was trained in the Brittish Armed Forces.

As for someone's comment about everyone has a bad day,well even when I watched my mother die,or any of the 3 times my missus had a miscarriage,or lost any of my jobs I never once considered going out and killing someone,NOT once,yes I was depressed,who would not be?

Nice deer there Jossie btw!

Guns have absolutely no place in society. Honestly, who thinks it's a sensible idea to introduce kids to firearms "for fun"? I can't abide this line of "oh come on, it's cultural differences - deal with it." The right to bear arms (in Canada or US) has as much modern meaning as outlawing homosexuality or forbidding women priests (which never had any meaning of course). It's not cultural in Canada to use or own a gun. It's an excuse for members of the rural community to have some playtime at the expense of animals. And on that note, if we never shot a deer ever again in Ontario would we really be overrun by a rampaging, stampeding population? Of course not. And if hunting is the concern, why own 13 guns etc? This is all about choice, and right wing politics too naturally.

Mental health is a factor in big sprees but it's way too simplistic. Ever wondered why someone doesn't ram up the sidewalk on a busy Yonge St? You'd surely get more people that way ... Guns are symbolic, about power over other people. A car is just a vehicle. Its symbolism is less meaningful. As long as guns are in society, and being so integrated at a grassroots level, this problem will always exist. Not that Iain's urchins won't turn out to be fine upstanding citizens I'm sure!

'Anyone can have a bad day' means that evaluating someone's mental health as a snapshot is unlikely to be effective in predicting their future behaviour. It doesn't mean 'Everyone is going to kill someone if they have a bad day'.

Yeah.

It's embarrassing/disgusting that there are parents on here who encourage/allow their kids to fire guns.

I also struggle with this car/gun comparison. Why not compare dropping a TV on some ones head with firing a gun it's so stupid. Guns are designed for damage end of........they should be withdrawn from retail.

Except you can catch fish with a fishing rod. Have a look and then throw them back in the sea/lake/water and there is no harm done what so ever.

Try pulling a bullet out.

The two don't really have anything in common.