Disarm the gun hobbyists!
Toronto Mayor David Miller wants to save us from dangerous gun hobbyists.
Gerry Nicholls - June 6, 2008
Ask the average person on the street for his or her view on hobbies and you would probably hear something to the effect that they are fun and harmless activities.
Ha. Shows you what the average person knows.
Toronto Mayor David Miller, who doesn’t care what average people think (unless it’s an average person who leads a public sector union), knows the awful, horrible truth about these so-called harmless activities.
Sometimes hobbies go bad and kill.
A case in point is any hobby that includes the use of a gun.
As Miller recently explained, such hobbies as target shooting, gun collecting and competitive shooting are actually so dangerous they could destroy western civilization as we know it.
Well, OK, he didn’t exactly put it that way.
What he did say is that gun hobbies directly result “in people being shot to death on the streets of Toronto."
In other words, guns don’t kill people; gun hobbies do.
That’s why Miller wants to make it illegal to own any kind of gun for any kind of purpose or hobby.
Now, of course, I expect the usual “gun lover” crowd will be all up in arms (so to speak) about Miller’s anti-gun plan.
They will say Miller is engaging in typical left-wing, over-the-top rhetoric.
But let’s consider the facts.
Fact one: target shooting is an Olympic event. To qualify for this Olympic event requires that a) you own a pistol and b) you do lots of practice shooting stuff.
Clearly this is a deadly combination.
Just imagine what would happen if crazed Olympians started patrolling our streets taking pot-shots at passersby just so they could increase their skill level.
Yeah, sure it might help them win a gold medal and make us all proud to be Canadian, but just consider the cost in human life!
Fact two: many of the guns people collect are actually antiques. If the popularity of programs like the Antique Road Show has taught us anything it’s that the retro look is definitely in style these days.
And if there’s one thing your typical gun wielding criminal cares about, it’s style.
Surely no self-respecting thug would go for a modern imported American hand gun, when he could dazzle his fellow gang members with a stylish Civil War-era Colt revolver.
So no doubt criminals are ransacking homes across the city to get their hands on classic weapons.
Although I don’t have the actual statistics in front of me, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if an inordinate number of shootings in Toronto over the past few years involved muzzle-loading muskets.
Fact three: Gun owners typically like to shoot in special firing ranges. We have all seen these ranges on countless TV cop shows. The hero inevitably squeezes off a few rounds right into the heart of a black silhouette paper target. Seems safe right?
Wrong.
What would happen if say a group of school children happened to wander into one of these target ranges? And what if from a distance they happened to look like black silhouettes?
Carnage would ensue.
So considering all these facts, Torontonians should absolutely support Mayor Miller in his crusade to ensure gun hobbyists are disarmed.
Of course, Toronto’s criminals would still be armed to the teeth.
But that’s OK because when they shoot people it’s not a hobby; it’s more like a job.
Gerry Nicholls is a senior fellow with the Democracy Institute and can be found online at www.gerrynicholls.com.
Discuss this column on Toronto Mayor David Miller here.