Prime Time Crime
(Letter to the Editor Ottawa Citizen Jan. 6, 2006)
Subject: Liberal Handgun Ban Proposal
Len Grinnell
Sir,
I am a retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and served for 39 years, the majority of which were in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. I have been a shooting competitor since age 14, initially taught and coached in the sport within the Ontario School system, by returning veterans of World War II. I belong to two Rod and Gun Clubs, as well as being a member of the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association and the British Columbia Rifle Association, of which I am a Life Member. My years as a street policeman proved to me that offences with firearms are rarely, if ever, committed by dedicated, law-abiding gun owners.
The recent announcement by Paul Martin of his desire to ban handguns is undoubtedly to appease those naive voters who would believe that doing so would end the gun violence in the streets of our major cities. This violence has to be laid at the feet of those responsible; the punks who use stolen or smuggled handguns to fuel gang egos and strengthen their positions in ongoing drug wars, as well as a justice system that fails to recognize what just about every other citizen of this country does; that minimal sentences for gun crimes do not work! These problems have not developed overnight, and the Liberals, who have been in power for 12 years, are now promising to do something about them and that "something" is to divert the electorate's attention from the real problem. Want a "real" solution? Strengthen and enforce our firearms laws and get off the backs of law-abiding citizens!
More than one Liberal has stated that, "Guns should only be in the hands of the military and the police". We have been bombarded by continued hysterics of government funded activists. The legitimate firearms owners (and all other taxpayers) have had to endure the excessive and continually rising cost of a National Firearms Registry, not to mention the litany of errors that have occurred within that registry. Now we have a proposed handgun ban, and notwithstanding that these guns have been required to be registered since 1934, the Liberals have not come to the realization that it is not the honest citizen who is gunning down innocent people on our streets.
In view of the logic being applied by the Liberal Party, all participants in the shooting sports, including hunters, are in jeopardy of having their firearms confiscated, without compensation, by an immoral act of government. Let's acknowledge who the real criminals are and enact and enforce common-sense amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada that will make our streets safe.
L.G. Grinnell
Langley, BC