Quote:
Originally Posted by gynn
Six more people killed by a crazed gunman in the US. This time in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
No point discussing how such atrocities can be prevented. The consensus of opinion seems to be that tightening the gun laws will do nothing.
So let's just put it down as six more martyrs to the US Constitution's obscene Second Amendment granting everyone the right to bear arms.
God Help America!
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It's much more complicated than that. It's not just that guns are available; it's what yanks do with the guns that is makes the issue very complex. Every adult Canadian citizen has the right to own arms. Every one of the guns used in the Colorado massacre can be purchased by a Canadian citizen. Ok, there's a lot of paper work and background checking; but once you have jumped through the hoops you can buy your Glock 19. We have our occasional mass murders; but not like the yanks. There are about 500 murders per year in Canada ... most, not surprisingly, in the bigger cities esp. TO, Montreal, and Van.
And there is nothing remarkable nor obscene about the Second Ammendment in itself. Consider when it was written. At that time, the English were a real threat. All that the Second Ammendment did was to establish the need for what would later become the National Guard. And one can find similarities in the compulsory conscription of adult males into European armies before WWl ... the perceived need for a population which could be quickly integrated into the army in case of a war. Admitedly, the Second Ammendment has outlived its usefulness; but it will remain a force because to the yanks, The Constitution is only a little less sacred than the Bible.