Taking hand guns to task

Re: Can guns make streets safer?

In response to Mr Sciuk, I say he's incorrect, handguns were not designed to save lives in a last resort situation.

Hand guns were designed to kill.

I think that's a responsibility that only the police are trained to deal with and they have an enormous responsibility that our society places into their hands when we allow them to carry handguns.

We expect that they're trained to react and deal with these situations and attempt to resolve it without having to resort to using their firearm.  I would expect that RCMP have yearly training as part of their job description to carry these weapons.

I certainly would feel a lot more comfortable walking around knowing that the only people legally allowed to carry handguns are trained professionals.

Mr Sciuk points to statistics in the US that perhaps streets are safer...as they say, you can find statistics to tell almost any story you want. I have another one for him...

The US rate of Firearm related deaths in the US is 10.27 per 100,000 people while in Canada it's only 4.76.

Also, the rate of Homicide from a Firearm is 4.14 deaths per 100,000 while in Canada it's only 0.76 per 100,000.  So the Homicide rate from firearms is more than 5 times the homicide rate in Canada per 100,000 people.

I think that statistic gives a much clearer picture rather than taking a sample over 2 years from one of 50 states in the US.

Warren Pineau