From today's National Post. As I've mentioned before, I think that our gun laws are pretty good, all things considered.
Americans, come north, learn guns; Canada's system of firearm usage is safety first
Here's a novel idea for our American cousins, offered here free of charge: Do gun control the Canadian way. We've got it down to a science.
In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, in which a deranged Islamist terrorist (these terms are not mutually exclusive) murdered 49 people using a Sig Sauer MCX assault rifle, similar to an AR-15, Canadians have undergone our customary paroxysm of schadenfreude, combined with our habitual bewilderment at the gun culture of the United States (which has gun lobbyists defending suspected terrorists' right to bear arms), combined with the usual handwringing over the state of Canada's own gun-control rules.
But here's the simple truth: This country's current gun regulations and safety practices are good. No sit-in, such as the one just ended in the U.S. House of Representatives, is required here, either for more regulation or less. This is the result of 25 years of sensible evolution in firearms practice that came about under Liberal and Conservative governments, and was established and tested by farmers, hunters and sport shooters.
Yes, that's right: In Canada the most rule-oriented, safety-conscious people around are the gun users themselves.
I know this because I have hunted, fished and shot at targets all my adult life. (I'm a lousy fisherman and worse hunter, but a decent shot.) I belong to a hunt club and a gun club, where I regularly shoot at targets. I hold a restricted firearms permit. And I can attest the training I received to obtain it, and continue to receive to keep it current, is rigorous, ultracautious and thorough. Sport shooting in Canada is the antithesis of the stereotype perpetuated by anti-gun crusaders calling for ever tighter restrictions, including a return to the exorbitantly costly, demonstrably useless federal long-gun registry.
I've witnessed the evolution of Canadian gun safety, from the unsafe to the very safe indeed, in my lifetime. Both my grandfathers were farmers. Both owned .22-calibre rifles to keep down varmints. Both leaned their rifles in a corner of their storage rooms, with the shells stored nearby in a drawer.
My father, who also hunted, later added the safety innovation of storing the clip and shells in different places, and the rifle in an inaccessible closet. But since my brother and I knew by age 11 or 12 where all three were kept, concealment was limited.
The practice then was to teach youngsters the basics early. Always assume the weapon is loaded until you've proved it safe; never point the muzzle at another person even if you know it's unloaded; and the gun bearer always walks first in a single file.
It seemed safe enough at the time. Then again, so did driving unbelted. It wasn't truly safe, because it allowed too much room for human error. Things changed in the 1990s, when the Chrétien
Liberal government introduced a swath of new regulation, including the long-gun registry. The registry failed because, among other reasons, it imposed onerous red tape on law-abiding farmers and hunters, while doing nothing to stem the flow of illegal handguns into Canada. It alienated rural Canadians from the Liberal party, and ultimately became a great revenue-generation tool for the Conservatives.
But the accompanying rules weren't all bad. It made sense for guns to be locked up, in a bolted-down safe or room, and for ammunition to also be locked away. Canadian safe-storage practice now, which survived the longoverdue abolition of the longgun registry in 2012, requires that every firearm be stored unloaded, locked in a bolteddown gun safe, with a triggerlock that makes it impossible to fire. This is a good thing.
As a Canadian Army reservist in my teens, I learned range safety from a sergeant who threatened to beat us senseless if we ever pointed a loaded weapon anywhere but down-range, or moved ahead of the firing line (the line of shooters facing a row of targets).
The volunteer range officers at my amateur club today are far kinder, but no less strict. Every new member, despite already having a restricted firearms permit, which requires a safety course and RCMP background check, must receive another course courtesy of the club. After that, new additions are mentored and vetted for several months by experienced members to ensure they're safe, know the rules and adhere to them without fail. Sport shooting in Canada is, as I said at the outset, a hobby managed by safety geeks. Learning the rules and following them is hardwired into the culture and part of the fun.
The upshot, to bring this back to the debate down south?
Canadians have no constitutionally enshrined right to use or own guns. Yet the evolution of safe storage practice and range safety, and adherence nationwide, means those willing to put in the time and effort to be safe, can do so. It's freedom with responsibility - and a wonderfully Canadian innovation. So, American members of Congress, come ye north: We will teach you about guns.
