The tiny size accorded your otherwise laudable editorial is evidence that you do not yet expect serious, let alone prompt, action on this matter. Gun enthusiasts will inundate you with the usual knee-jerk arguments, such as, "The killer, not the gun, is to blame."
The first step Canadians should take is to educate themselves on the subject. A really good start is to pick up a copy of Enter the Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Samuel Colt to 50 Cent, by Canadian hip-hop writers Rodrigo Bascunan and Christian Pearce. Readers will learn just how pervasive, and truly sick, the gun culture has become in the United States, where loose gun marketing policies remain a key source of our gun problem.
I favour a ban on all handguns that are not recognized as legitimate target-shooting weapons, and a ban on all gun collections within city limits that should be phased in over time.
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The federal and provincial governments will have to get more into the gun business, not less.
This should include legislation that prevents Canada’s only handgun maker, Para-Ordnance, from marketing to American civilians, given the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. and given our own need to press the Americans to do something about their gun problem.
Ron Charach, Toronto
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