Silly Little Country

Montreal Shootings

I do not know what I think about gun regulation (I know what I think about the nutty costs of the Liberal gun registry). I own no gun, I have thought of getting one, and of course securing it and registering it, as part of a survival package.
But I watch the press and I remain stunned at one key point. Had every individual at l'Ecole Polytechnique, or Concordia, or Dawson College, been packing a gun, and trained in using it in short order, the number of casualties would almost surely have been much smaller overall than it was. This is a point made perfectly sensibly in a Toronto Star Column.
I am not pretending that this would not create other problems, but the casualty rate in ALL those cases would likely have been reduced were more people carrying guns. The offenders could have been defended against and eliminated much faster than by waiting for the arrival of the police. Wild west? Yup! In these specific cases likely effective. Problematic - yes. Let us have an honest discussion and not pretend these explosions are a case for gun control - in many ways they are the opposite.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 5:50 PM