Mostly, because the can sound intelligent without having to show any knowledge of the problem or a possible solution.
Fucking posers.
Either I’m on your ignore list our you overlooked the CDC link I posted. The US alcohol death rate is roughly double that of the UK:
Annual deaths due to alcohol, US: 88,000. US population 318.9M. ~27.6 per 100,000.
Annual deaths due to alcohol, UK: 8,416. UK population: 64.1M. ~13 per 100,000.
No, not on my ignore list…sorry, I missed your post. Ok, so ours is higher than I thought…wow, 27.6 per 100k?? :eek: Holy shit!
Probably never realized it was so high because you’re just used to alcohol deaths. Lol.
Btw, I’m not scared about guns. I am a Canadian who just moved to Houston. The guy across the street has windows full of “I love my guns” stuff. The only thing I’m scare of is going blind from his Christmas display.
Yeah, exactly…this is a good example of XT not being very good at risk analysis, even though I live in a state with one of the highest rates of death by alcohol, drinking and driving related deaths, etc. :eek: I figured we were on par with other countries wrt deaths related to alcohol, but that rate is off the scale.
I think jjimm is off by a decimal point though.
Or maybe that site is wrong.
Speaking as a Canadian here - there really are two main reasons:
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Sheer incredulity and incomprehension at the ongoing, highly visible carnage apparently self-inflicted by our neighbour’s policies. Yes, the actual numbers of deaths are not large on a per-capita basis, but they are highly newsworthy, so they get lots of attention.
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Fear that some of those guns so readily available down south will be smuggled up north. In that sense, it isn’t entirely the case that US gun laws have no impact here - like any other contraband, having them legal down there could have spillover effects up here (I admit I don’t have stats to hand on how realistic this concern actually is).
Why do Americans care what non-Americans think about their gun laws?
But then, why would non-Americans care whether Americans care what non-Americans think about their gun laws?
Perhaps the real philosophical conundrum is this: does anyone really care what Americans think about what non-Americans think about whether Americans care what non-Americans think about anything?
I don’t care.
I hope that clears that up.
You should inform yourself better before making baseless assumptions. Because guns are so easy to obtain in the US, the US is the major source of illicit handguns in Canada and the major source of all illicit weapons in Mexico. A Toronto Star investigation revealed that of the crime guns seized in Ontario in 2011, 60% of them were traced back to the US – mostly border states and Florida but a total of 44 different states; 20% were untraceable and likely also majority from the US; only 20% of guns used in crime were domestic.
That’s a specious and irrelevant argument. In the final analysis the greatest cause of death is being alive, with a mortality rate of 100%. But we still put up with it, because we feel it’s worth it. For the same reason we drive even though there’s a risk of traffic accidents, or eat (within reason) foods that may not be good for us. But, as I mentioned before, after several children suffered serious injuries over the years from sharp-pointed lawn darts, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission banned them entirely in 1988, and after another child suffered a brain injury, re-issued the ban in 1997 along with a directive to destroy any that might be in anyone’s possession.
The operative principle here is clear. There is always a tradeoff between risk and utility. The thing that constantly amazes outsiders is where Americans draw that risk-utility balance with guns – in a way that no other civilized country has chosen to do, for no discernible benefit that anyone has ever been able to fathom, and with consequent disastrous results. To mistake this as moralizing or a Quixotic attempt to change the values that are so stridently asserted by the NRA and its ilk is really missing the point. It’s just plain and simple astonishment.
Looking further, I now think my linked site is the one that’s off.
[ul]
[li]guns are regulated nationally, under the federal Criminal Code and the federal Firearms Act;[/li][li]provinces can enact additional gun laws, such as hunting regulations under a provincial Wildlife Act;[/li][li]anyone who wants to buy or possess a long-gun or ammunition must acquire a federal permit, which requires a detailed background check and taking a gun safety course;[/li][li]handguns are restricted weapons; anyone who wants to buy or possess a handgun must have the basic firearms permit, and then apply for a handgun permit, with an additional background check and gun safety course;[/li][li]full auto weapons are generally prohibited, except for some in bona fide gun collections, whose provence can be shown to be prior to 1978;[/li][li]when not in use, all firearms must be locked away, unloaded;[/li][li]it is a criminal offence to take a firearm to a public meeting, including political meetings and churches;[/li][li]no loaded firearms in a motor vehicle;[/li][li]a handgun for personal use can normally only be possessed at one’s residence, a shooting range, and in transit between the home and shooting range;[/li][li]concealed carry is almost always a criminal offence;[/li][li]a handgun licence cannot generally be acquired for personal safety, except for a few occupations such as a bank guard or armoured car guard;[/li][li]in exceptional cases, a personal safety permit to carry a handgun concealed can be obtained, but they are very rare; one estimate is that there are no more 500 personal safety carry permits for the entire country (of more than 30 million residents).[/li][/ul]
ETA: just realised I forgot the most obvious: no Second Amendment or equivalent in our Constitution.
To get back to this, as others have commented, the US is the source for most illegal firearms in Canada. We therefore have a particular interest in the regulation of firearms by the US.
Just realised I forgot something else, because it was so obvious: all handguns must be registered. (Long-guns used to be on the registry as well, but the recently defeated Conservative government abolished that requirement. Did not change any of the other principle.
One other point is that there are restrictions on magazine size for handguns and long-guns.
[quote=“Northern_Piper, post:50, topic:740417”]
[ul]
[li]it is a criminal offence to take a firearm to a public meeting, including political meetings and churches;[/li][/QUOTE]
[/ul]
Be funny if in a few decades earnest American christians brought their guns to be blessed by a priest or pastor in a mass blessing service, same as pets are blessed. I could see it happening.
Under the Rituale Romanum all kinds of stuff are blessed, including planes, trains and automobiles. Those are specifically listed.
And fire. Which they sprinkle with holy water.
We used to travel in the USA… a lot… maybe 25 trips in 10 years (we could take advantage of business trips).
Loved every minute of it. Great people, history, scenery.
Those days are over. I don’t think I’ll go back ever again. Too bad, it sucks.
I also told my boss I would be reluctant to go to the corporation’s head-quarters in Houston because I would feel unsafe.
Guns wouldn’t be included in ordinary things like pets, planes, trains, automobiles, etc. Guns would be blessed in the Rituale Romanum category of “Blessings of things designated for sacred purposes,” somewhat like this:
Grant, we pray, that this Gun may be hallowed by the Holy Spirit, so that when it is fired the Good Guys may rejoice, and shooteth the beer cans upon the fence posts of the Lord and partake mightily of Beer. And may the Bad Guys and the Gun Grabbers be dispatched by its thunder to everlasting recompense. At its sound let all evil spirits be driven afar, let the power of your hand put down the evil powers of the air, causing them to tremble at the sight of this Gun, and to flee from the Good Guy who brandisheth it, and who sayeth in the glory of the Lord, “yeee-haww!” May the Lord Himself grant this. Amen.
bahahahahahahahahahaha.
Did you run that through spell check?
It’s not any more dangerous here than it was 20 years ago.
Less dangerous, really, though the impression you get from the 24 hour news today indicates things are falling apart and gun violence is at it’s all time peak, worse than evah before and getting worse every day.
They are very concerned.