On Sep 5, 1:06 pm, Chris Friesen wrote:
RickH wrote:
I heard gun ownership is high there too, which would
certainly explain why it is a very low-crime country.

Correlation doesn't imply causation.

Maybe the fact that every male is militarily trained leads to both
reduced crime and increased gun ownership. Maybe reduced crime is due
to higher employment, population demographics, cultural bias, or
something else entirely.

Chris

Correct Chris: This is along way from light bulbs. CFL or otherwise.

The ownership, use of guns and gun violence is very much factor of the
culture and type of society; a childish remark, such as the one about
'Inspectors and bullets' would be unacceptable in most civilized
societies! Whereas in Iraq for example, it has been said every house
has an AK47 or the equivalent and if some hot head gets into an
argument with a neighbour .................... ! or doesn't like a
particular 'brand ' of religion!

Until age 22 I lived in a society where gun ownership was rarity. My
father who was in the over-age (Home Guard) defence force during WWII
did not retain any weapons and voluntarily surrendered his Colt 45
after the war to the local police, for disposal, after using it with
blanks, as a starter's pistol for school events for a couple of years.
There was never any suggestion of keeping it. Even then the blanks
were kept separately from the locked up revolver. Gun violence in that
country was and still is a rarity.

As a reservist in the mid-late 1950s I was trained in the use of at
least two military weapons (I was quite a good shot actually) and
would have served if called up. Gun safety was a paramount
requirement; no point shooting your own people!

Since then have also been fortunate to have lived in a society where
there is no need to own a gun at all; I could get a rifle or a shotgun
to go hunting; but have no need. And therefore no responsibility to
control it or its ammunition. Friends who occasionally may own a gun
(in this somewhat rural part of Canada) usually have an old ex-
military rifle that their deceased father used to own for occasional
moose or other hunting. And these are registered and kept securely
locked up. For example I have never seen a Lee Enfield that my good
neighbor is said to own and don't expect to!

We notice that many of our southern neighbours are questioning what
they feel are increasing restrictions on personal freedoms through
your systems of government; both federal, state and city. Also what
would appear to be the over-influence of industry lobbyists on elected
reps. and government employees. Rather than the wishes of 'ordinary
folk'. That's your business except as it occasionally affects us; your
biggest trading partner. Also the US passion for owning guns stemming
from having an armed militia back some couple of hundred years ago?
Rather like Switzerland's reservist army? Again that is your business
and none of ours to comment.

But gee! You do have a lot of guns that occasionally spill over the
border into Canada.

But it quite evident that fewer guns around leads to less gun
violence; criminals can always get and use guns, often illegally
imported from the USA. In Canada there are far fewer guns around in
private hands for them to steal/get their hands on. Also the illegal
(unregistered) possession of a gun, especially hand guns, is a crime
in itself. So for a criminal to use a gun at all in the commission of
crime becomes much clearer than "My neighbour was being an a**ole so I
waved my hand gun at him and unfortunately it went off!"; illegal gun
use is considered serious and carries a higher penalty.

We do have trouble spots in a couple of major cities mainly due to
gangs. But gun crime and related death rates overall are extremely
low.