Personally, I believe that where we are as a nation in regards to firearms is more or less where we should be. I think some effort needs to be put towards refining some of our laws and regulations (read: Liberals, don't you dare bring back pointless ATTs), but we are otherwise doing ok and here is why: 1) There is a CLEAR distinction between legal and illegal firearms. The VPD published a report back in 2014 (I think) that stated that 97% of firearms related crimes that occur within Vancouver are committed with illegal firearms procured through criminal means. Keep in mind the number of gun crimes is quite low to begin with, but that is a fantastic number to see! It was a bit of a sign to the general (un-gun aware) public that we, the legal, are not the problem. 2) Building off that clear distinction between legal and illegal firearms (calling it that because we all know, or at least should all know, the difference), we also have the magazine capacity laws. Yes, yes, we would all love to have 100 round drums, BUT again it gives us leverage when entering discussions about firearms. Many times I have stood up in my college classes and talked about these issues. People ask about high capacity magazines and I can say with confidence that any that are used here are used illegally. I am a responsible gun owner, I follow the law and I don't shoot anything other than paper, plastic, or metal targets. The issue at hand here is fully automatic firearms. Yup, I agree a machine gun would be sweet... But, I'm willing to vote that down in favour of keeping my sport alive and in reasonable limits. I really don't see the point, regardless of price or regulations, in owning something that is designed to shoot in such a manner. We're just going to demonize ourselves. It's unfortunate, but we have to keep in mind that what we do is seen as "evil" to a lot of people. So really, I'll take the leverage in the conversations about how our laws keep the "dangerous" and "deadly" guns off our shelves and I'll continue to use them as an example of what the criminals have vs. what the legals have. Yes, true, most crimes are committed with semi-autos BUT automatics are often found in criminal stockpiles, they don't necessarily have to be "used" in a crime to still be there and be a viable threat to "public safety." I'd rather people fear "machine guns" and leave our semi-autos and etc alone.
As another point, I had a very interesting discussion where I compared the legalization of marijuana to the sport of shooting. Some "stoners" and "casual users" in class had brought up the issue of guns, and how "bad" they were. I asked them about how they felt about the prohibition of pot, and how some people think marijuana is bad. Of course, they all groaned and said it was stupid because they know it's not the best thing to do (and understand the risks) yet is no more dangerous than alcohol, so why not just let them have what they enjoy? So the discussion goes on, and they explain all their feelings and I ask why some people drive while high. They all, again, admit how stupid a choice it is because people can get hurt. This is where I take over, and say "Well, I enjoy guns. So why, as people who understand a struggle to fight for something they enjoy, would you try to take that away from me? Sure, once in a while, some idiot does a bad thing and people get hurt. These are rare incidences, though, we're talking a handful or less a year, and we (as firearms owners) all have at least a basic education in safe firearm handling/storage/general care. We know better, and almost the entirety of the firearm owning population would never dream of using their gun(s) for the purpose of hurting another person, just as the vast majority of marijuana users would never drive while high. There are risks involved with everything, and that's just how the world works. So why try to stop something you don't like or understand, simply because you don't like or understand it?"
Needless to say, a few light bulbs went on during that discussion. Long story short, I now have several new friends who can't wait for me to take them shooting (while they are sober, of course!) hahaha
