Gun Control Does Not Mean Murder Control
http://mises.ca/posts/articles/gun-control-does-not-mean-murder-control/
In 2010 the RCMP gave its employees who roam about Parliament Hill Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns. The MP5 can be configured for fully automatic operation. Such a weapon is off limits to the average citizen, though. Whereas the political class in Canada has reserved the right to protect itself with all available gun technology, it has intentionally deprived Canadian citizens with the same ability to protect themselves and their families via its gun control laws.
Starting in the early twentieth century, gun control has been on a tear in Canada. Instigated by state-infatuated special interest groups and supported by the RCMP, the movement to disarm the Canadian population has been unrelenting. Politicians have traditionally been more than happy to oblige because an armed population is a threat to their social, economic and technological ambitions. An armed population is also able to take care of itself against gangs and criminals. A disarmed population, on the other hand, is one that is both subservient to the will of the political class and completely dependent upon government-operated police for protection (even though, as the saying goes, “when seconds count, the police are only minutes away”).
The propaganda dispensed by the MSM says that gun control results in fewer gun murders. Data from the mid-1970′s to the present day is often used to back-up the claim. After all, it was in 1977 that Bill C-51 was passed. Bill C-51 was the first law which required both a criminal background check and a firearms acquisition certificate in order to legally purchase and own a gun. However, the MSM data typically fails to show the rate of gun murders prior to the 1970′s. The following graph, which includes the rate of gun murders in Canada since 1935, helps to explain why MSM reports do not look too far back. (Note: The data is derived from Statscan and Firearm Control in Canada).
The graph shows that the gun murder rate was the lowest between 1930 and 1960, and that Canada has failed to return to that level in spite of all the gun control legislation that has been passed by the politicians in Ottawa. Bills C-17 and C-68 (passed in 1990′s) were introduced at a time when the gun murder rate was already decreasing. In fact, since those two bills were passed, the murder rate has stabilized and has not decreased much further. It is obvious from the graph that the correlation between a decreasing gun murder rate and gun control legislation does not exist.
One could argue, albeit incorrectly, that the increasing gun murder rate of the period 1960 to 1975 was tamed by this legislation. However, if one looks at a comparison between the normalized Canadian and U.S. homicide rates (which include gun murders) as shown in the next graph, it is easy to see the same trends occurred in both countries. Because the U.S. was not subject to the same gun control laws as Canada, it must be concluded that the increase in the gun murder rate in Canada for that period was simply a reflection of the general increase in the rate of homicide.
In spite of the propaganda that has been parroted by the MSM, some magazines and even university professors are going public with the truth about the failure of gun control. For example, Dr. Caillin Langmann of McMaster University, an emergency medicine doctor, has concluded, “It appears that Canadian firearms legislation has had no significant beneficial association in regards to firearm homicide and spousal homicide by firearm.”
The unmitigated failure of gun control in Canada combined with its outrageous costs ($2 billion and counting) have prompted the federal Conservatives to scrap the long gun registry. Not surprisingly, however, it has decided to keep the registration of handguns and the long list of prohibited guns even though the data supporting the effectiveness of any gun control is absent. The same goes for the licensing of gun owners. After all, the political class and the RCMP want to reserve the right to come to the doors of gun owners and ask them to turn over their weapons (if fact, this has already been done).
In conclusion, gun control does not mean fewer gun deaths. It does mean, though, that more law abiding citizens will become victims in their own homes and businesses and that the costly iron fist of the state will further intrude upon the peace and tranquility of their lives. The government knows it, for it is fortifying its headquarters with the Heckler & Koch MP5.
Tags: Canada, gun control, Heckler & Koch MP5, MP
