©2015 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee   [caption id="attachment_3588" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Handgun --Photo by M. Connors  (Morguefile)[/caption]  

With mass shootings and incidents of terrorism on the increase in North America, as responsible adults and long-time gun *owners, we would be negligent not to ask questions and consider the complex issues of obsession, madness and gun control. Here at Incoming Bytes we encourage readers to think for themselves and seek solutions, but also to use reason, logic, common sense, and practice communicating skills effectively rather than cowering in fear, gasping in frustration, and living in  unfettered paranoia.  Bottom line, we must not remain silence in response to these senseless tragedies.

We offer our sincerest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to families of those killed or injured in events involving senseless gun violence and terrorist acts, particularly those occurring most recently in California, and Paris, France.

Madness and Gun Control

It never ceases to amaze this Canadian how discussions on gun ownership and  gun control in the United States of America has become so extreme, polarized, politicized, and blown up beyond reason.  Gun ownership is considered by many to  be a God-given, or at the very least, a constitutional,  inalienable right. If the United States does not have the highest concentration per capita concentrations of guns in the world, it certainly has the highest concentration of obsession,  fear and self-entitlement related to gun ownership. Let us call it what it is;  gun madness and gun control.  Yes, gun madness and gun control —worth repeating.

Somehow, in the United States of America,   ' We the People',  based on the original, US Constitution, Second Amendment rules supreme.  Subsequent 'interpretations ' nudged into effect by test cases in law, creative lobbyists, NRA influenced courts or not,  have gone far beyond simply and collectively being allowed to bear arms in a well-organized militia.    Citizens are  encouraged to buy, possess, enjoy,  and use any and all guns without purpose, reason, or intent, and almost unbelievably, in some jurisdictions, guns may be purchased without mandatory background checks for mental instability, violence, convictions, or criminal activity.  Background checks may be fast-tracked,  avoided, or simply and arrogantly not bothered with .  How about that. The American way.

Madness and Gun Control. You Crazy? Criminal?

Potential gun buyers may be  unstable,  anti-social, terrorist-affiliated, good old-boy possum-hunting rednecks, target-shooters, inventors of boom-bang,  members of private militias with paranoid leaders,  itchy uniforms and trigger-fingers, racists intent upon cleansing the earth,  dangerous religious zealots intent upon converting the religions of the world, conspiracy theorists or apocalyptic survivalists wearing camo...patriots all.  No matter.  Criminals,  back-yard mechanics and your everyday gardening-Grannies, any and all may purchase guns.  Those who wish to protect themselves in their cars, the shopping mall, or provide security at home, may purchase guns. Punk car thieves,  drug dealers, hardened criminals, home invaders, or first-time burglars begging to be shot for stupidity can get guns illegally.  No matter who we are, we can get guns. It's our right, they say.

Sophisticated Hardware: Essential for Everyday People: NOT.

Are sophisticated automatic assault  weapons essential for everyday people?  No,— yet ordinary, everyday people have  access to modern weapons more suitable for war, if not over the counter, out the back door. Guns of all kinds, readily available to anyone with cash. The right price. Money,  green, or stained with red.

Guns  offered to the public are highly variable. Expensive or cheap.  Saturday-night Specials.  Legal or smuggled.  Equally accessible are  six-guns complete with quick-draw outfits,  combat Glocks with laser sights. Machine pistols, other high-capacity magazine-fed automatic handguns.  Hunting rifles in all calibers, shotguns, sawn-off or not, law-enforcement versions, all  in endless variety and great supply, new or used, from Peewee .22's  to .50 calibre buffalo-gun black-powder antique copies ready to assemble.  Fully-automatic military assault rifles, questionable for  'hunting'  at best, may be purchased in friendly mom&pop  gun-shops or from the trunk of the nearest parked car.

Assault Rifles

All may turn up in  Mr. & Mrs. Smith-style secret collections in upscale neighborhoods.   NRA-obsessed individuals insist  guns of all types should be legal, inferring inclusion of any guns, even sophisticated military version hardware—is essential to satisfy the Second Amendment.  Let that sink in.   Let us quell our paranoia at the home-made shooting range in  Everyman's Back Yard by buying more guns. Your neighbour's paranoia has been encouraged to grow with your own,  so don't forget to pick up the carry permits, a few thousand rounds,  and a couple more assault rifles, that's a given. The baddies are coming. Buy another gun. 

Guns  are carelessly stored and inevitably, left loaded and fatally accessible to children, but that sad fact somehow evades the paranoid pro-gun,  the obsessed.  It is apparent that  gun "rights"  trump community and family safety;  "rights" without logic and common sense clearly spill blood of the innocent.  Lack of training is often ignored. Background checks are avoided or by-passed.    Madness and illogical government policy on gun controls lacking common sense  run riot-- Ineffectively.  Inexplicably. Unbelievably.

So much for the U.S.A., but north of the border,  *WE  have been responsible Canadian gun owners for many decades and personally haven't shot a single soul yet.  Go figure. Gasp...we, too,  have guns.

The Canadian Way

  Canadian citizens were arbitrarily subjected to the  (then Liberal) government's  knee-jerk legislated  'Long gun registry'.  That problematic registry was initiated and installed  at the  ridiculous cost of more than TWO billion dollars,  and instantly and completely  banned some classes of guns, automatic weapons,  high-capacity magazines, making possession of such equipment or any unregistered firearm an instant criminal offense.  In doing so it also turned responsible, law-abiding  collectors, farmers and hunters into criminals, —but certainly did not register or remove guns, automatic,  banned or not, from the hands of drug dealers, fanatics,  murderers or the criminally-insane. 

The  Dec. 6, 1989 Montreal massacre at a Montreal university, the Ecole Polytechique, was committed by an unstable, woman-hating, Marc Lepine, a young man  with low self-esteem and serious mental issues.   The perpetrator used a Ruger Mini-14, a common hunting rifle when he  separated women from the men in an engineering class,  shooting 28 individuals, and  killing fourteen women. The ill-thought-out long gun registry legislation was subsequently passed in a Liberal government  bid to be seen as somehow  "solving" the problem of gun violence and violence against women.

The next-elected  Conservative government abolished the wasteful long gun registry and 'reportedly' destroyed registration data.  But, dear readers, do not cheer too quickly. The 'Canadian way' applies.

• With a current NEW Federal majority Liberal government, ( elected Oct.19  2015 )  rumors are circulating that gun legislation in Canada will be revisited to repeal and modify  Bill C-42, (originally called  the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act by the Conservatives) creating tighter 'guidelines' and more potential  headaches for honest gun owners. 

• The Province of Quebec also separately intends to build it's own, separate long gun registry after challenging, in the courts,  the right of the Federal government to destroy Federal  long gun registry data collected in Quebec. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 5-4 in favour of the Conservative Government, —and the Quebec records were supposedly destroyed. Really.

Wow. Brilliant.  We look forward to more pro-gun and anti-gun madness. Legitimate, peaceful gun owners are not delighted.   A change of government used as a justifiable basis for yet more partisan legislation, madness and gun control? 

What is your perception of  'rights'?   Do YOU own guns? Do YOU have any rights?  Will you have any in the future? Think. You decide. 

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*Disclaimer:  For the record,  I am Canadian and a responsible gun owner.  We have been peaceful, responsible gun owners for many decades in rural Canada.  Go figure.

Is that Incoming I hear?