July 2022
The recent mass shooting in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park is once again causing some American legislators to to call for stricter gun control laws. Will it finally be the tipping point, or will they just go after the usual low-hanging fruit of law-abiding gun owners, people who would never dream of doing such a horrific thing?
Due to the differences in gun laws, America has a slightly different problem than Canada, where shootouts between criminal gangs are more of a problem than lawful gun owners going on a one-time shooting spree.
The reality is that targeting law-abiding gun owners has a very limited effect. Gun control laws don’t affect someone who is determined to carry out a horrific act such as a mass-shooting. Gabriel Wortmann was able to carry out the worst mass-shooting in Canadian history two years ago, but he wasn’t a lawful gun owner.
While I don’t profess to have the magic bullet, no pun intended, for solving the plague of gun violence across the world, paying attention to the signs before the shooter has a chance to carry out his intentions would do more than the strictest prohibitions. Those who would commit such horrific acts don’t just decide one day to become a mass-killer. It’s not like turning on a light switch. It’s a slow process, more like a pot of boiling water.
Problems with the current approach include things like not paying attention to the signs, thinking someone else will handle the problem, not wanting to get involved, or more importantly, a lack of legal or medical resources to adequately deal with the person.
Family members, doctors, police, teachers, co-workers, and such, need to pay attention to the warning signs, and be prepared to act. Sometimes, things like that do happen. Sometimes police are able to pre-emptively take action.
Three years ago, I had my legally-owned hunting rifles seized by my local police service, based solely on anonymous accusations made through Crime Stoppers, forcing me to go to court to get the seizure order cancelled. It was alleged that on numerous occasions the month previously, I was observed in a manic state through the front window of my house, waving my rifles around, clad in only my underwear or sometimes completely naked and yelling loudly, threatening to “get even” with some people. Sounds like a job well done by the police? Well, no.
Those accusations against me were completely false and I was able to prove it. Despite being in an age where most people have cell phones glued to their hands, there were no photos, videos or audio recordings. There wasn’t even a 9-11 call, which is something that might be expected when a person in an apparent manic and violent state is observed waving rifles around and threatening to “get even” with certain people. There were also no witnesses willing to identify themselves and testify in court.
What there was instead, was me proving that on four occasions, I wasn’t even at home. On the other nights, I had a witness who could have testified that they were with me and that nothing of the sort happened. Thus, the Crown Attourney withdrew the seizure application and my rifles were returned to me.
In this case, the police were targeting an innocent person, but if I had indeed been a safety threat, that action alone by police could have prevented one or more murders from being committed. That said, I wasn’t arrested and charged, with at least uttering threats if not other offences, nor was I apprehended under the Mental Health Act and taken for a mental health evaluation by a physician. I’ve been very public for the past 6 years that I suffer from PTSD, related to my service as a police officer (leading to my eventual retirement).
It’s impossible to stop everyone who may commit a mass-shooting, and even seizing lawfully-owned firearms doesn’t mean others can’t be illegally obtained, but simply banning guns and declaring gun-free zones isn’t working any better.
For the record, I have never behaved in a manner like what was described by the anonymous source, nor have there ever been any accusations of the sort made against me before. My prime suspect in making these accusations against me, accusations that amount to the criminal offence of Public Mischief, is a former co-worker and friend of almost three decades, Sergeant Mark McComb of West Grey Police, where I worked for 15 years of my over two decades in Law Enforcement. I’m still seeking evidence that will either confirm my suspicions against McComb, or point me in the right direction.
By the way, can we stop calling the AR-15 a “military-grade” rifle, because it’s not. It’s actually the civilian version of the American M-16, which has both full-auto and semi-auto functions. The AR-15 has only a semi-automatic function, and both are actually less powerful than .30-06 or .308 rifles, commonly used for moose hunting. Further, the magazine capacity for the AR-15 has also been restricted to 5 rounds since the mid-1990s. It just looks scary.
