Canada Bans Handguns

It will soon be virtually impossible for the average Canadian citizen to own a handgun.

From TheGlobeandMail.com:

Liberal Leader Paul Martin says he will ban handguns in a bid to reduce the levels of violence that have plagued the country's urban centres in recent months.

Martin's sweeping anti-crime announcement today -- which included putting $325-million into law enforcement, creation of a gun amnesty program and money for communities -- came during a campaign stop in a Toronto neighbourhood that has been rocked by several recent shootings.

Handguns are already severely restricted in Canada, but Martin will be hoping the move allows his Liberals to be seen by many voters as the party of law and order.

"We do not accept the rising threat these weapons pose to Canadians," Mr. Martin said. "To make our communities safer we should ban handguns outright."

I believe it's been shown that gun amnesty programs are good publicity but quite ineffective in actually removing weapons from the hands of criminals. Additionally, it has been the experience in Canada that gun crimes are committed primarily with illegal weapons. Consequently, taking guns out of the hands of legal owners won't likely impact the gun crime rate. Conversely, if criminals are aware that their victims are unarmed, they're emboldened and there exists the real likelihood that more Canadians will be victimized.

To me, banning guns is a head-in-the-sand, naive approach to solving Canada's crime problems. Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens does deter criminals from victimizing the public. As far as criminals killing criminals, they'll continue doing so whether guns are banned or otherwise. That's what they do.