Little Fish in a Giant pond

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Taking Aim at Gun Violence

As most of Canada is now aware, eleven year old Ephraim Brown was struck and killed by a stray bullet from a gang shoot out in Toronto a few days ago, while at a barbecue for a friend's birthday party. I don't even want to imagine the kind of pain his family must be experiencing right now.

It is not my intention to use this post as an example of how effective or ineffective gun control is. I think at least my friends are pretty aware of my position on the matter, and I think I've posted about it before as well (not sure though).

I am posting because I am upset by the reaction of our country's political elite to this awful tragedy. It seems that whenever crimes like this occur, various legislators are quick to demand action, as if all of our problems can be magically legislated away.

I'm not saying that we should not learn lessons from tragedies such as that of young Ephraim Brown, or the Dawson College shootings, etc. If there are genuine flaws in our system then we should not hesitate to fix them, but perhaps we should actually examine the system that is in place a little bit before acting rashly and opting to reform the system. The police need to be allowed to conduct their investigation (I understand they already have a suspect in custody) and the courts need to have the chance to administer justice. I think a little time and thought is necessary before we adopt any major changes.

I'm going to stop here for now because as I said, I do not intend to get into a debate over gun control. At the very least, I don't want to use this poor boy's death to further my own political cause. I wish that a few of our country's leaders would take this same step.

7 Comments:

  • You seem to be indicating that you are for the banning of all handguns. Then I hope you stick your neck out and tell us that this gun was stolen from a "Canadian" gun collector. If it came in from the United States. your argument holds no water whatsoever.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:26 PM  

  • Civilians have no need for handguns.

    By Blogger Vicky, at 4:53 PM  

  • Not sure how you got that impression Anonymous. I was trying pretty hard to keep my personal opinion out of this post for the reasons I have already elaborated on. Perhaps in trying to hide my own opinion, I may have unintentionally lead you in the opposite direction.

    By Blogger Fish, at 4:55 PM  

  • I think I understand the compassion you are trying to employ, but I'm not with you on the exploitation.

    It's not exploitive to say, again for the hundreth time, enough, do something!

    This beautiful little guy, musn't be used in a negative way. What brought him to his death and answers needed, surely can be raised.

    If we get too politically correct about these issues, imo, they'll disappear.

    By Blogger Karen, at 8:29 PM  

  • Hummm, not sure what my position is on handguns. Thought I do understand the principal behind the ban, there's also the collectors, the target shooters, etc which own guns in all legality and cause no problems. You also have the guns that are imported into Canada illegally, and then you have most killings being done with knives.

    Only reason someone uses a handgun up here is for target practice or suicide... and the occasional idiot who shoots himself or his partner or his dog (poor dog) while hunting...

    I think better community controls and also parents taking responsabilities over their kids turned "gangstas"... kids

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:33 PM  

  • ok, so after some thought, i think intead of an outright ban, use thougher penalties... since the penalties are supposed to be a deterent for people from doing illegal stuff.

    Either way, i still think the fondamental problem aint the guns, they're just part of the "culture" of gang violence. What is needed are more controls over the kids - not boot camp, thought that can work for some - but better parenting, more education oppurtunities (not just books, but apprenticeships, etc). It seems Quebec has seen a drop in youth crime because of a more soft approach instead of the ordinary "more cops, more law enforcement"...

    So yeah, community building might be best...

    As for a gun control system, i heard the Aussie system works pretty well - it allows farmers and such to own handguns, and outright banning it for anyone else (if i'm right).

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