Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on 1,500 makes and models of military-grade “assault-style” weapons May 1, there has been much talk in Squamish about gun control.
I believe in gun control. I think we have reasonable gun control at present. Most guns in Canada are under the control of responsible gun owners who take care of their weapons in the prescribed ways.
And the ways most Canadian gun owners use their legally appropriate weapons when hunting and sport shooting show respect for safety, the rights of others, and the environment.
The problem with guns and gun violence in Canada is not with the legally owned and acquired weapons, but rather with those that fall outside the legally sanctioned classifications and are usually acquired or imported illegally into Canada. Most of the weapons used in the mass shootings in the last number of years have fallen into this category — illegal classification weapons, illegally acquired.
It would also appear, from media accounts and pictures, that most of the weapons used in gangland murders, violence and other criminal activity in the Vancouver and Toronto areas involved illegally acquired hand guns or other restricted weapons.
All of these are what we could term as uncontrolled guns. This is the category which should be the focus of our attention and the government’s attention.
Gun control should focus on controlling the importation of, the acquisition of and the possession of weapons that clearly are already restricted from use in the general population.
Gun control should focus on the illegal possession of weapons dangerous to society.
Increased border and import controls would be part of this. Strict control of the ammunition and ammunition assembly products and supplies that support the use of the already restricted weapons would also be an important aspect of gun control and the control of gun violence.
Gun control is far more an attitude than simply a set of rules.
Attitudes are affected by what we see and hear, what we read and talk about. U.S. media, television and print, seem to have a considerable focus on guns and gun violence.
I can remember the hunting magazines from my youth that were far more travel and how-to magazines than gun catalogues.
There might have been one or two articles per issue on guns; they usually were about gun cleaning and maintenance, hand loading of ammunition and the ballistics of hand loading formulas and off-the-shelf ammunition.
But most of the articles were about where to hunt, and how track and then field dress your game.
There were often beautiful photographs of interesting parts of our country where hunting could be an adventure. A quick glance at the gun and hunting magazines in the racks of today’s stores points to a far different mindset towards gun possession and use.
These affect our attitudes and values.
Gun control should focus on the appropriate attitudes toward gun possession and use, which would include good training for all gun owners and users, but more importantly good gun control should focus on the proper and increased control of the illegal possession and importation of restricted weapons and the illegal and improper use of any weapon.
Canon Donald J. Lawton has lived and worked in Northern Canada as a teacher and a priest, was a gun owner and hunter, and served 15 years as a military chaplain. He is now retired and living in Squamish.
