[lit-ideas] Re: Didn't I tell you so?


The Michael Moore film BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE makes a different point. He wanders around Toronto, knocking on and OPENING front doors; the people he encounters are not terrified, apparently, of their neighbors. He makes several statistical points: Not just the over-all murder rate in large U.S. cities is higher than all of Canada's, but the "per capita" rate is also much higher. BUT: He points out that gun ownership in Canada is actually HIGHER per capita than in the U.S. For Moore, it must be something other than just the existence of guns that causes the difference; it's something deeper in the way U.S. citizens think.

Yes... it's true that the "fear" factor is high and I watched BFC too. But, it's not 'guns', it's HAND guns. It's keeping them on your person and it's the willingness to use them and have them ready. Perhaps the "per capita" gun ownership is higher in Canada, but a whole lotta people have rifles and there are also a lot of people who collect guns and really do only ever consider them tools for target practice.

I don't know ANYONE who owns a hand gun 'for protection'. In the usa, a whole lot of 'regular' folk have guns specifically and ONLY for protection. I'd love to know who you are protecting yourself from. Why do you feel a need for such protection?

paul

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Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Kingsville, ON, Canada

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