XPost: calgary.general, can.politics, edm.general 
 XPost: hfx.general, tor.general, van.general 
 XPost: wpg.general 
 From: someone@ms.com 
  
 "penny"  wrote in message 
 news:esigs19j7rmvvicda5u7js46kol03m5a8f@4ax.com... 
 > On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:16:43 GMT, "pcourterelle"  
 > wrote: 
 > 
 >> 
 >>"Ladies Choice"  wrote in message 
 >>news:%_Bwf.46787$km.26769@edtnps89... 
 >> 
 >>>> 
 >>>>Just as a lot of booze went South in the 20's you can bet guns will 
 >>>>continue 
 >>>>to flow North if there is even a small black market for them. 
 >>>> 
 >>> 
 >>> Indeed, but that isn't really an argument against banning guns. 
 >> 
 >>So the efficacy of the law banning handguns really isn't an issue since it 
 >>won't prevent them from flowing north? By all means, place your finger in 
 >>the dike while its walls crumble around you and call it success. Banning 
 >>handguns is a base electroral ploy and nothing more. 
 >> 
 >>pc 
 > 
 > One study found that the U.S. murder rate without handguns was 
 > roughly equivalent to that of Canada, while the murder rate with 
 > handguns was 14.5 times greater. 
 > 
 > Another study found homicide of a family member was 2.7 times more 
 > likely if the home had a firearm than if it did not. The same study 
 > found suicide was nearly 5 times more likely in homes with one or more 
 > firearms. 
 > 
  
 You have an uncanny knack for missing the point and misconstruing 
 information. The above speaks to your desperate need to eliminate individual 
 choice and responsibility in Canada. It says nothing but the efficacy of 
 policies to ban handguns while the border is porous and the flow of handguns 
 from the United States is uncontrollable. 
  
 You pick and choose only those comments that support your paternalistic 
 position. Did you miss the one by a spokesman for the Edmonton police force 
 who said the proposed ban is "...just stupid. I don't see that this would 
 make any difference whatsoever. The legal gun owners aren't the problem. I 
 can't recall the last time a legally registered gun owner committed a crime 
 with it. It's very, very rare." Or the quotation about how the guns used in 
 Toronto over the summer could not be traced back to legal owners, meaning 
 they were illegal weapons to start with. 
  
 I would have considerably less issue with the Liberal handgun ban if the 
 Liberal government had, over the past 12 years, steadily made improvements 
 to control the illegal flow of arms into Canada. It is only fair that 
 Parliament cleans up its own house before it cleans up Canadians'. I favour 
 tight regulations and enforcement of legal firerarm owners and users. There 
 should be stiff penalties if a registered owner has their gun stolen or 
 lost. No question. 
  
 The purpose of the ban is illogical: prevent law-abiding, conscientious 
 Canadians from owning a handgun for the sole purpose of preventing criminals 
 from stealing them. You penalize the good to prevent the bad from doing 
 something. If you'll excuse the extremity, it's like saying the government 
 should ban children from going outdoors to prevent kidnapping and abuctions. 
  
 pc 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)