Is more gun control really the answer?

February 2018

In the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, there are the usual cries for more gun control.  It’s very tragic and completely reprehensible what Nicolas Cruz is accused of doing, but does anyone think more gun control will stop someone who is hell-bent on committing such a horrific act?

For disclosure, I’m a licenced gun owner and hunter and support the responsible ownership of firearms by law-abiding citizens.  I do support certain controls on guns and absolutely support safe handling and storage regulations, which includes so-called “assault rifles.”

I’m also thankful that I live in a country where I don’t feel the need to carry a gun with me all the time “just in case.”

However all the regulations and prohibitions in the world will never completely stop someone who is determined to go on a killing rampage.  Think about it; do you really think someone who is determined to murder people will really care about any firearms laws they may be breaking?

Sure, prohibiting certain firearms or people from purchasing them will make it harder to carry out such a rampage, but it won’t eliminate the source of guns, who don’t always care about breaking any laws either.  Cigarettes are perfectly legal for adults to purchase and consume yet there is still a thriving black-market for them, so why would stricter firearms laws make that big of a difference in shooting deaths?

Well, Canada has stricter gun laws than the U.S. and we have fewer shootings than them, you say?  That’s a minor issue because Canada has a smaller population and a different mindset.  Our country wasn’t founded on a gun culture that has enshrined gun ownership in its constitution.

Gun control is just one part of the solution, but perhaps more important is understanding the “root-causes,” as Justin Trudeau likes to say, of what drives someone to even contemplate committing such a horrific act.

Apparently there were several warning signs.  Reports have stated that Cruz had disciplinary issues at his former school, may have as Trudeau likes to say, “felt excluded” by his peers.  Reports have also stated that many people were aware that Cruz was “a little off” and no one did anything about it.

Cruz reportedly commented on a You Tube posting that he would be a “professional school shooter,” a comment that caused one concerned citizen to contact the FBI, information the FBI failed to follow-up on and investigate.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio criticized the FBI for its failure to act, stating “Lawmakers and law enforcement personnel constantly remind the public that ‘if you see something, say something.’ In this tragic case, people close to the shooter said something, and our system utterly failed the families of seventeen innocent souls.”

Cruz had been expelled from the school last year for disciplinary reasons and Jim Gard, a math teacher at the school, told the Miami Herald that the school administration had sent out an e-mail warning that Cruz had made threats against other students.  “We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Gard told the Herald.

Cruz’s lawyer at this bail hearing advised that he’s a loner who lost his parents several years ago and suffers from mental illness, which certainly doesn’t excuse Cruz who absolutely must answer for his actions, but until we get a grip on underlying issues such as mental health, addiction, bullying, gang culture, poverty, black-market guns and other related issues, no amount of gun control will stop this madness.

Was Cruz on psychotropic drugs?

Although I’ve had my own struggles with mental health, I’ve never once contemplated shooting anything other than what’s allowed by my hunting licence, like most “sane” people.

We have strict gun control laws, yet there are dozens of shootings on Toronto’s streets, and even in our shopping malls and schools, every year; shootings committed with handguns, despite the fact that handguns have been very strictly controlled since 1934.

By the way, for those virtue-signalling progressives who are gloating right now that this shooting wasn’t committed by a Muslim or ISIS inspired or any other hot-topic group, but by a pasty white kid who was reportedly a white supremacist, get off your sanctimonious high-horses!  Both are wrong!  Period!

Sources:  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43071710, http://time.com/5159134/who-is-the-florida-shooter-parkland-nicolas-cruz, http://time.com/5162999/fbi-failed-investigate-tip-nikolas-cruz/