(Image credit: the Associated Press).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: After latest U.S. mass shooting, we should be thankful for our gun laws

May 25, 2022 | 4:41 AM

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING in the U.S., this time in Texas.

An 18-year-old walked into an elementary school Tuesday with a “military-style” rifle and started shooting, killing 19 kids and two adults before he was shot and killed by police.

It was the deadliest mass shooting at an American elementary school since the Sandy Hook tragedy in Connecticut that took 26 lives in 2012. It came less than two weeks after 10 people were gunned down in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

President Joe Biden promptly demanded that something be done — that something being effective gun control.

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

Apr 19, 2024

Two and Out

PETERS: Try as he might, Allan Schoenborn will never be forgotten

6h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Sorry - did you say, 'Take your old guns to the post office?'

12h ago

“As a nation, we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” he demanded.

The same sorts of things were said after Sandy Hook, and the answer to Biden’s questions is the same as it was then — not any time soon. All the usual gun-lobby excuses will be made — guns don’t kill people, people do. And, of course, some will argue that more people, not less, need to be armed, so they can defend themselves against all the other people who are armed.

In Canada, the arguments against gun control are somewhat different but equally without merit. Last week, an Angus Reid Institute public-opinion survey showed 43 per cent of Canadians believe gun violence is increasing in their home communities. Fifty-one per cent said it was about the same; only six per cent thought it was decreasing.

Stats Can confirms that firearms-related offences are on the rise. One in three homicides in 2020 involved a firearm.

Predictably, new measures brought in last week on the sale or transfer of non-restricted firearms were met by gun enthusiasts without enthusiasm.

But while Canada hasn’t been immune from mass shootings, we can be thankful today that our gun laws are as effective as they are, especially in comparison to what’s going on south of the border.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

—

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.