I've Quit Trying to Figure it Out

I live in the heartland of Canada’s gun culture. I don’t think there was an area of Canada that supported Stephen Harper’s move to get rid of the gun registry more than right here in Saskatchewan. People who would never even flinch at lining up to register their marriage, their car or even their dog balked at filling out a bit of paperwork to register their guns.

Saskatchewan gopher rifle

Filling out a form was characterized as some soviet style intrusion into their private lives. Nothing would lather up a radio call in show like the topic of gun control. Farmers after all need their guns to shoot gophers and to keep marauding packs of coyotes at bay lest they eat their grandchildren or worse still, their Pekinese farm dog.

Gun control is just an issue for bleeding heard Liberal and NDP city dwellers anyway. Isn’t it? Us folks out here in the country don’t have our firearm problems.

I frankly found it all quite unnerving.

Looking at the Regina leader post just this morning I noticed:

• A man on the Cowessess First Nation was charged with careless use of a firearm, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, unauthorized possession of a firearm, unsafe storage of a firearm and uttering threats as a result of a situation there. It took up to 40 RCMP officers to resolve the issue.. 
• A Regina man was charged with uttering a death threat, assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm, careless use of a firearm and possession of a firearm contrary to a court order. 
• In Earl Grey, two men either killed each other, or there was a gun related murder/suicide yesterday.
• And, there was a letter to the editor about a person who after threatening his former girlfriend had his firearms taken away said. He then told his former friend, “If you feel safe now, don’t. I have more guns hidden away on my farm” or something to that effect.

All that in one day.

Bear in mind, this is not big city violence. That is something else all together. Harper's law and order agenda will take care of all that.

Now if we follow these home grown cases, I am sure we will find out these people who were charged are all upstanding members of their communities. Good people who just, somehow fell into the wrong crowd and lost their way or that they didn't really mean to do those things but were driven to it by unique circumstances.

I for one would feel a lot better with effective gun control.