After Toronto HS Stabbing, Politician Desires Handgun Ban

[benji]

Gun ban needed, not school metal detectors: McGuinty

Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday that he does not want to see the provinces' schools resort to installing metal detectors and having uniformed security officers patrol the halls in the wake of Tuesday's fatal stabbing at a Toronto high school.

Such a move, he said, would amount to the Americanization of schools in Ontario. . . .

Instead, he said, Ontario needs to distinguish itself from the United States by imposing an outright ban on hand guns.

"Let's ban handguns in Ontario," he said. "Let's ban handguns across the country. Let's declare war against handguns."

A 16-year-old Scarborough youth was stabbed to death on Tuesday on a walkway leading from Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute.

Wait. What?

If McGuinty has his way and Canada bans handguns, we'll bet it won't take very long before it occurs to some Canuck delinquent that you can also stab people with a knife.

[JT_55]

That's one misguided McGuinty we got in TO. Bet he ain't gonna last to long come next election.

[Indy]

I stopped posting about political issues, but this is one I want to talk about a little bit.

I really, really hate the idea of gun control. Whatever you think about the government where you live, and the cops where you live, I believe in the power laying in the hands of the people more then anything else. I think if police carry guns, and the military carries guns, then in order to stay away from a police state guns need to be accessible to the average person, with restrictions to the obvious people that need to be kept from guns.

[Riot]

I really, really hate the idea of gun control. Whatever you think about the government where you live, and the cops where you live, I believe in the power laying in the hands of the people more then anything else. I think if police carry guns, and the military carries guns, then in order to stay away from a police state guns need to be accessible to the average person, with restrictions to the obvious people that need to be kept from guns.

Excatly, especially if you consider the ones who are going to use guns for violence are criminals anyways. If they are going to break a law as serious as armed robbery or something, they certainly won't give a fuck if they have an illegal gun. The average, law-abiding citizen would.

Let's also keep in mind that the American police are largely a reactionary force. Sure, they do some preventive police tactics but a lot of the police work is done RESPONDING to a call. Where something bad has already happened. It really is up to the general public to help protect themselves and prevent crime. Evening the playing field with the criminals is a good idea. Most of the times the gun isn't used, and when it is statistics show the gun owners use it responsibly and effectively.

[J@3]

Gun control works, people don't. We don't have school shootings and very very very very few incidents like this in Australia, and our police carry guns. Personally I think the idea of "protecting" yourself by blowing someone's head off is a bit much, but at the same time if one person invades your house with a shotgun, it's really the only option you have... just a vicious cycle, if you can have a gun for your protection that means someone else can have a gun to go after you with.

[TheMC5]

Gun control works, people don't. We don't have school shootings and very very very very few incidents like this in Australia, and our police carry guns. Personally I think the idea of "protecting" yourself by blowing someone's head off is a bit much, but at the same time if one person invades your house with a shotgun, it's really the only option you have... just a vicious cycle, if you can have a gun for your protection that means someone else can have a gun to go after you with.

You know, Canada has pretty good gun control policies, so that kind throws that out the window. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but these situations are also quite rare in Canada, as well.

[J@3]

You know, Canada has pretty good gun control policies, so that kind throws that out the window.

What is "pretty good"? We thought ours were pretty good aswell until some nutcase killed a bunch of people in Tasmania, now it's changed.

[Andrew]

A ban on hand guns isn't completely without merit but the fact of the matter is that if someone wants to cause serious harm to another human being, they'll find a way of inflicting it. Since a 16 year old was stabbed to death, I would suggest the problem isn't just teenagers getting their hands on guns.