BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is a rebuttal to 'LETTER: Reader calls defence of Bill C-21 'disingenuous',' published June 24.
*************************
Let me start by saying that I appreciate the time and effort that Mr. Jackson took to respond to my letter to the editor regarding taking a step forward with respect to gun control.
I only wish that they/he took the same effort to reference actual statistics and not those found on Facebook or Fox News.
We cannot have a realistic discussion on gun control if we cannot agree on basic facts.
In my letter, I referenced Statistics Canada as a neutral data collection agency. Mr Jackson asserts that “more than 90 per cent of shootings are drug dealers shooting drug dealers, rival gang members shooting each other for money or control of their turf.”
This is simply not true. Again, Statistics Canada keeps records on this.
For the most recent year, 2020, the rate of homicides suspected or confirmed to be related to gangs and organized crime is roughly three times less than Mr. Jackson asserts.
The premise of my letter wasn’t to say that Bill C-21 will solve gang crime. It was that Bill C-21 is a step forward toward reducing the proliferation of legally acquired guns that are then sold on the street. My reference for that is former Toronto police chief Bill Blair.
If Mr. Jackson has intelligence to suggest that Bill Blair is wrong, perhaps he should contact Bill Blair and the policing agencies with his sources. In the absence of proof, let’s go with what experienced law-enforcement professionals have to say on the issue.
So, yes, Bill C-21 will address illegally acquired guns and guns that were once legally acquired can now be removed from people that are a danger to themselves and others.
While Mr. Jackson seems to acknowledge the accepted fact that one in four female victims of gun violence are terrorized by someone they know, his point that because the assaults happen with rifles, C-21 will do nothing to stop them... is both puzzling and alarming.
Bill C-21 doesn’t seek to take just handguns away from abusers. It will take all weapons away from abusers. This obviously would include rifles.
I don’t want to go back and forth forever on this issue. The proposed legislation is publicly available. It will become law. The Liberal/NDP alliance will be in power until at least 2025. Read it.
If one legally owns weapons and isn’t a threat to themselves or others, they can continue to enjoy the privilege — not the right — to own a gun. If you fit that criteria, you can continue to hunt and protect your livestock and feel safe in remote areas of the province.
But that gun will be a gun of society’s choosing.
If you want an AR-15 or an Australian Military Issue Metal Storm gun which fires a record 16,000 rounds per second... well, no. Our collective rights to safety and security supersede your desire to have whatever you want.
Let’s end on a point of agreement: I fully support Mr. Jackson’s suggestion that opioid deaths are an issue we should address. Unlike Mr. Jackson, I do believe that we can tackle more than one social issue at a time. But I do appreciate his unsolicited support.
Assuming he is sincere, I look forward to counting his vote for a party that actually wants to do something about mental illness, poverty and systemic disadvantages.
Paul Hutton
Barrie
*************************
Barrie
*************************
