Some People Will Never Get It Part I

When it comes to the debate on gun rights, as Struther Martin so famously said in Cool Hand Luke, “Some people, you just can’t reach”. A series of recent events has occurred over this week to convince me such words are truer than ever. Today, I’ll examine the first case of another one who’s “stuck on stupid,” to quote another favorite phrase of mine from Lt. Gen. Honore.

Let’s start this two-part series in Canada, where overall crime is 50% higher than the crime rate in the United States, according to a recent study. Why would Canada, where Michael Moore so famously staged his “friendly open door” stunt for his ant-gun hit piece, “Bowling for Columbine”, be suffering from an unprecedented increase in crime? Looking to its “violent” neighbor to the south, the U.S. has seen an overall reduction in crime for over a decade. What could possibly explain the sharp increase, then, in a country so closely tied to the U.S.?

While undoubtedly Canada’s lenient sentencing laws and lack of penalties for felons who commit crimes with guns has much to do with their current crime problem, a recent move on the part of their government bears, I think, a large part of the blame. Canada decided recently to enact a sweeping ban of handguns and is considering the same for long guns.

Rather than follow the policies of its southern neighbor, the United States, relaxing ridiculous gun control laws, Canada chose to behave more like its sister countries of Great Britain and Australia where similar measures have, amazingly, also resulted in unprecedented increase in all forms of crime, including illegal gun possession.

How does Canada’s ultra-left wing government choose to deal with this failure of policy? Do they admit the bans are a mistake and repeal them? Do they get tougher on criminals who use guns? No, nothing that sane. They blame the United States for their gun crime. Apparently, even governments can develop a victim mentality. The consensus of the Canadian government is that because guns are so easily smuggled in across the U.S. border (not to mention Canada’s massively unguarded coastline), they cannot have their gun and crime-free utopia. The position seems to hold there that normal people become crazed criminals because guns are brought into the country. Stuck-on-stupid. I just like that phrase.

Actually, they’re learning, as Britain and Australia have been, that forbidding law-abiding citizens the means to protect themselves leaves them vulnerable to a criminal element that has no qualms or difficulty getting weapons illegally, regardless of what law exists. Criminals, it seems, don’t want to abide by the law. I’ll pause for those who had to gasp in shock.

All better? Let’s continue. This is just common sense, but common sense that escapes the ultra-Left. And it is a reality, another thing that often escapes our liberal brothers and sisters. If a criminal knows that it’s very likely his target is unarmed and he is armed, what is his motivation to not commit the crime? He can assume, correctly, that the police will be overwhelmed and thus slow to respond. So, why not? R@pes, homicides and home invasions are the most common crimes that increase when guns are outlawed. Realistically, how does a province or nation decrease such a crime wave?

There are two primary ways. Law and punishment could become more draconian, although Canada so far isn’t willing to do that for these sorts of crimes. Alternatively, you could allow people the means to defend themselves, but Canada seems unlikely to do this, either.

Already, Toronto is becoming more violent than New York City. Violence will spread from the larger cities to the smaller ones until violence is endemic. Violent criminal enterprises like cigarette smugglers will continue to operate, but with greater freedom, in the rural areas. Canadians will suffer because of this “great social experiment” of their liberal government.

Not only does the government of Canada not get it, but “progressives” or, calling them for what they are, far-Leftists here in the States don’t either. This should serve as another lesson why, despite the Left’s protestations to the contrary, the United States should never want to be like Canada.