Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3218619-20121215004047/@comment-3967693-20121218205637

As a way to learn a bit about gun violence in the US (and simply for us not to do that much work on the last week before Christmas break), my (Canadian) History teacher is letting us watch Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore, and what an interesting documentary it is. And I certainly agree that these problems of gun violence are accounted for because of the media (also see this great quote falsely attributed to Morgan Freeman about the media's work "idolizing" these mass murders) and general fear in the population.

Canada has some pretty strict gun laws, however the film does show Canadians as being gun lovers ourselves. I think, and this may sound pretty biased, that Canadians aren't so gun-savvy because it isn't on our constitution (at least, that's what I was taught). It wasn't proclaimed a right given to us, only an option, and if "stricter" gun laws come in affect in the US, there surely will be an uproar of discontent among those who proclaim "it's in our constitution, you're violating our rights to bear arms!"

...Well, who needs an assault rifle? I highly doubt that you're going to need it other than to hunt deer. These types of guns are used to kill, and if you want to kill, most likely someone who is threatening your life, all you need is a handgun, really. Plus, the Constitution was written to ensure that the people of the US were safe from British threat (again, from what I was taught), so really, we don't need all of these weapons.

I really do hope that the Obama administration tries to do something about this. Even as a Canadian, I feel that these countless and needless deaths need to stop.