Gun-o-cide

I know, says the RCMP, largely composed of officers from Ontario, probably Toronto, aka the center of the known universe ;) . Let's take something valuable, rare, collectible, beautiful - at the center of a time honored tradition. Let's take family heirlooms with memories and romance. Cherry wood or balsam fir or oak or handcrafted metal with engravings. Guns are weapons, and thus fundamentally evil, liable to shoot themselves or throw the unsuspecting innocent into a CSI like interrogation and drug bust just because the guns are THERE.

Then let's make the average Joe deathly afraid of owning one. God forbid he should even think about picking his own up or learning to use it well, or pass on responsible use to his kids. His wife has been nagging him about owning it (and various other trappings of manhood) for years. He'll be so afraid of it that he'll run to someone else, give it away so that it can be destroyed, and go home thinking he's done a good thing.

Millions of dollars of perfectly good guns thrown in a crusher (not even recycled). Antique, collectible, pretty guns. They weren't doing any harm sitting in your closet, locked in the cabinet where they should be, safety on and ammo stored in another location. (which is the law, after all) They were keeping the average burglar or random home invader a little more trepidatious. Now they're in a landfill. And the price of guns has just gone up a little bit more because supply has gone a little bit down.

Note that I haven't mentioned any farmers? Their rifles are happily sitting, escapees of the gun-o-cide, in the hall closet by the door, waiting for cougars, bears, or coyotes. Or moose or deer. Or, (cross your fingers) elk. Mmmm... elk steak. Albertan farms are the real gun amnesty.

I know... let's have a knife amnesty or a 2by4 amnesty... everyone can turn in those dangerous weapons as well. People shouldn't let their children be in a house made of (gasp) wood boards that could kill or kitchen knives that can stab. { More people are killed each year in Canada by knives or 2by4s than by guns. }

Just call me gun lovin. :) I don't even own one, and can't shoot or aim well at all. But I admire the skill it takes and the principle of the thing. And elk steaks. Or any kind of steak. And I appreciate the men in my life who will kill the magpie that wakes me up at 4AM all winter long, or the deer hit by the car who is suffering.