Dear Editor
Alex McPhail manages to fail on quite a few points during his anti-gun commentary (All Over the Map, Dec. 19).
The predictable bleating and grave dancing of the anti-firearms lobby has become tiresome to the public, and in the end helps fuel the media spawned infamy that will motivate the next psychopath to kill on an even more horrific scale. Enough already. I've got a news flash for you. On the day one mentally unstable individual used stolen firearms on a killing spree, millions upon millions of firearms owners killed nobody.
All the emotion fuelled anger being directed at firearms owners is just that, an emotional response to an unimaginable horror, but it isn't logical. The proponents of a disarmed utopia would have you believe it is possible to legislate guns out of existence, and point to places like Japan and China to illustrate their point.
With the Chinese government's record on human rights, it's not hard to figure out why they keep the population there disarmed. Hoplophobic types also conveniently forget to mention the long standing cultural bias towards bladed weapons in these countries and don't want you to think about places like Switzerland and Israel where firearms are part of the culture, and not something to be vilified every time a crazed individual uses a gun.
The anti-firearm lobby also overlooks the huge increase in violent crime experienced in England after they banned guns, and doesn't like to admit that increases in carry permits in the United States have resulted in a proportional decrease in the murder rate. I would point your readers to the work of Dr. John Lott for more information on the anti-gun lobby's campaign of misinformation.
Lastly, anyone who wishes to limit our freedoms here in Canada based on the opinions of citizens of the most corrupt, vicious and controlling nation in the world might want to re-think their argument.
Ric Stroud
Ottawa, Ont.
