Sometimes the biggest tragedy about tragic accidents is that they provide rather obvious lessons:
EWETT CITY, Conn. — Court documents show that moments before a Jewett City toddler fatally shot himself, his mother warned him not to touch his father’s gun because of the “bad boo boos” it could cause.
An arrest affidavit details how 2-year-old Wyatt Matteau grabbed the gun from a nightstand and shot himself in the eye while his mother was in the bathroom.
On the morning of Aug. 28, Rebecca Matteau was watching TV with her son and her 3-month-old daughter, just minutes before the shooting. The children’s father was sleeping in the bedroom.
Minutes later the boy shot himself, and he died less than two hours later.
Hmm, seen this somewhere before…
At the risk of offending some, this is why we need gun control. It’s not the guns – as the NRA loves to state, “People kill People”. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t that bright and an unwise person with a gun is more dangerous than an unwise person with a bat. You may trust yourself with a gun but ask yourself: do you trust EVERYONE you know with a gun? Probably not.
Of course the argument goes both ways: Toronto mayor David Miller’s call to ban ALL handguns will do little to stop gun crime between the hot-headed, immature youths that plague Toronto’s streets. Criminals generally don’t carry gun permits and seem undeterred by the fact that murder is already illegal. Conversely, responsible gun owners in cottage country will be penalized. Does this make any sense? Hardly.
I have to take a middle ground on gun control. On one hand, I’m not for banning guns completely. However, I feel that if you want to buy a gun, you shouldn’t be automatically allowed to get one. I favour for example waiting periods, background checks, and denial of gun sales to people with a history of criminal activity and/or mental illness. But I can’t say there should be an absolute prohibition of firearms ownership.
Well, I think I’m vindicated in my belief that people with mental illness shouldn’t have access to guns: look at that guy in Finland who shot a dozen people (and himself) and who earlier had produced a video of himself saying, “You will die next” and shooting a gun.