Idiocy on the Left. NDP leadership candidate Bill Blaikie said Tuesday night in a debate that he thinks that US President Bush “is planning every minute of his life to kill as many Iraqi children as he can in the name of oil or whatever it is that’s really on the agenda.”
You gotta wonder how much of the marijuana he’s so eager to legalize he’s been smoking. At least with someone like Blaikie at the helm, the NDP isn’t likely to win too much new support.
Just in case you think I’m leaving anyone out . . .
Idiocy on the Right. This guy:
That’s pro-gun activist Jim Turnbull, the guy who’s cowboy hat is only slightly more ludicrous than his habit of borrowing slogans from the American NRA. The guy who urged Canadians to bring guns to a public meeting. Responsible gun ownership indeed! The guy who said: “And to all of you men who registered your firearms, when you go to bed tonight, put your hand in your pyjamas… and see if you can find some balls!” The above photo shows him being arrested for taking out an unlicensed gun in front of scores of police and waving it around. Has he been smoking some of Bill Blaikie’s supply?
The thing is, I sympathize when people complain about federal government overspending on the gun registry. It was supposed to cost $2 million, it’s costing over $1 billion. I get it, ok?
But what I don’t get are people who use that as an argument to scrap gun laws altogether. You don’t have the right to bear arms, okay? Individual rights end where the next guy’s rights begin, and he’s got a right to live without being shot.
Guns kill people. Period. And no legal-technical bullcrap is going to convince me that the gun nuts have got it right. Sorry, but I don’t get why we should protect someone like Jim Turnbull’s right to own a gun over the right of people everywhere to safety. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people?” Maybe, but guns are an incredibly efficient way to kill people.
Any otherwise law-abiding citizen who wants to own a hunting rifle to kill deer, well, fine, but quit whining about filling out a few forms. Maybe not all criminals will comply, but with a federal database containing most guns in the country, it will be a helluvalot easier for police to do their jobs. And if the issue is government overspending, fine, address it, but scrapping the entire idea of registring guns is just a lot of claptrap.
There are some people who might do well with a good puff on the peace pipe.
I would have to disagree with the idea that a database of most of the guns in this country would help police to do their jobs. Most of the guns that have been and will be registered will never be used in criminal activity. The small percentage of guns that aren’t registered will be responsible for almost all of the firearms violence. The police will be no better off than before, and police districts across the country have recognized this and have been opposed to the registry from the beginning.
“he’s got a right to live without being shot.”
Correct. Gun owners have no right to shoot people. That’s illegal.
Now what was your problem again?
“…he’s got a right to live without being shot.”
As if someone who’s willing to break the law against murder’s going to think twice about breaking a much lesser law.
“Maybe not all criminals will comply…”
How about — none will comply. Zip, zero, zilch, nil, nada. Criminals don’t obey laws — that’s what makes them criminals.
Even if handguns were totally banned (and registration is a necessary first step towards that), just how much harder do you think it would be to get an illegal handgun than it would be to get (totally illegal) cocaine or heroin?
Laws like this are “feel good” laws. They don’t actually deliver any safety (just look at Britain), but the politicians can say they’re “doing something” and simpletons can “feel safe.” Never mind the fact that by definition outlaws break laws.