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Some days reading the news you struggle to remind yourself that people aren’t being daft on purpose and, even if they are, it’s not to annoy you personally. For instance calls for a handgun ban because some reckless thug shot a law-abiding citizen in Ottawa.
It would not be correct to label these calls “symbolic” because cities lack jurisdiction over guns. If a municipal problem is legislatively the responsibility of a senior level of government, it makes sense to ask it to act. But not this way.
The reason they’re symbolic, and silly, isn’t just that murder is already illegal. It’s that murders like Ottawa’s on Friday are committed by people using weapons it’s already illegal for them to carry or, usually, own. What’s the point of banning illegality?
Ignoring this question leads to infuriatingly feeble proposals. The Ottawa Citizen says “Toronto city council this month is scheduled to debate a motion asking for the federal and provincial governments to ban the sale of handguns, assault rifles, semi-automatic firearms and handgun ammunition in that municipality.” As if someone prepared to use an illegal handgun in Toronto would balk at driving one into Toronto.
I don’t want to get into the argument between Allan Rock and George Washington about whether government should take citizens’ guns away then tell them what to do for their own good. Canada faces no present danger of tyranny in the classic sense, despite constant nibbling at our liberties by elected governments claiming a popular mandate for every fool thing they do. But I will say the claim that ordinary Canadians cannot be trusted with dangerous objects is, like the claim that we cannot be trusted with dangerous ideas, incompatible in principle with democracy.
I will also ask whether anyone seriously thinks it’s only difficulty acquiring a gun that prevents the average Canadian from blasting away at loved ones and random strangers.
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See Also:
(1) Dear PM, Your Gun Bans Won’t Get the Votes You Seek: Edith Iwama
(2) A handgun ban in Ottawa would not prevent local shootings
(3) Tackling gun crime requires responsible solutions, not fear mongering
