Mass shootings have nothing to do with gun control laws except where such laws garantee minimal defensive ability on the part of the potential victims. I truly believe that our society took a wrong turn sometime after the Second World War and these events are one of the results. Political polarization, devisiveness, urbanization, a burgeoning population, loss of work ethic, parental unaccountability, are all pieces of the puzzle and no one group has the answers. Liberals tend to want to blame the gun while conservative want to blame anyone who is not in lock-step with them. At least they have sense enough to recognise the problem is not an inanimate object.
There is no question that the Canadian system of licensing gun owners has been wildly unsuccessful if the intent was to reduce the use of firearms in violent crimes. Here again you see the difference in how liberals and conservatives view the failure. Conservatives seem to recognise that this failure only demonstrates that lawbreakers break laws so the passage of more laws accomplishes nothing. Liberals, on the other hand, believe the failure of the law as it exists means that more laws are needed. In Canada especially, the split is less liberal and conservative though and more urban/rural. City dwellers are more likely to favor controls of all sorts while country folks are more likely to be independent people who favor independence. Of course, lines become blurred as more urban people move to the country where they can perform their non-productive jobs via internet connection. Young ruralites move into the cities to find employment because the traditional jobs are gone. So it is that we have urbanites who live in rural settings and ruralites living in the cities but the divide is still recognizable.
Because most of the population dwells in the cities and becaue the liberals are more politically active, I fear that the U.S. is going to see more gun control at some point. We will also see less hunting opportunities and the loss of a traditional, country. way of life and I think that is sad. GD
