15 June 2016

So lemme count the ways...

One • you need two thousand dollars... Two •• you have to be a qualified (as in trained) owner of a "restricted" firearms certificate which is not issued without extensive vetting by the RCMP... Three ••• you may only possess 5 round magazines... Four •••• you may only shoot this rifle on a "certified" range at a legal gun club... Five ••••• you may only sell said rifle to another similarly qualified & RCMP approved shooter.

Looking at the hoops, hurdles and obstacles one must negotiate to own this firearm, it becomes obvious that legal owners of registered firearms are not the problem here. Nevertheless, the big brains at Social Justice Central have decided that this rifle is the root of all evil...much ado about nothing
"While proportionally speaking, AR-15s are involved in a very small number of homicides, they have become the weapon of choice for mass shooters, many of whom are young men."
Dear CBC... you mean YOUNG MUSLIM MEN like Syed Rizwan Farook and Omar Mateen?

Curiously, the names of these two men, the perpetrators of the recent San Bernadino & Orlando mass murders are found nowhere in your article. Perhaps we should also, in the interest of gender equity, mention Tashfeen Malik, wife of Mr Farook.

Additionally, and let's use a direct CBC quote here... "AR-15s (more on this below) are involved in a very small number of homicides".

I fail to see any rational argument for trying to deprive law-abiding citizens of this rifle above the hundreds of variants of traditional wood-stocked firearms, which fire, for example, much more powerful deer hunting cartridges.

Is the CBC also aware that part of acquiring a Possession Acquisition License in Canada involves supplying the RCMP with a list of ex-partners & girlfriends, any of whom can torpedo the process if they retain the least bit of animosity for the aspiring gun-owning spouse?

How would the average split-up or divorced spouse/partner react if they were not allowed to purchase a house, a vehicle or participate in an activity like skydiving or bobsledding without the explicit approval of their ex? Could this process possibly be made any more complicated & burdensome?

Anyway, if you're trying to portray typical young men in the United States of America as death dealing sociopaths... leaving out the identities of Syed Rizwan Farook & Omar Mateen in your article... well, that's a slimy, duplicitous omission, wouldn't you say?

Demonising this one firearm is a sideshow... a red herring... in the exact same way that preventing distilleries producing single malt scotch whiskey will eliminate drunk driving fatalities.

I suppose I don't truly expect anything more substantive than this from the press relations arm of the Shiny Pony Party of Canada. Just know that not all of us out here are complete Sheeple.

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UPDATE: Forget what the shooter himself actually said...

...it's a total mystery why this mass murder happened...sweet baby jebusPossible motives?

SERIOUSLY!?!?
"Despite Omar Mateen’s pledge of support to the Islamic State, other possible explanations emerged."
Hells bells... even the FBI wouldn't touch the M-word with Rush Limbaugh's 10 foot pole...
"FBI Director James Comey defended the bureau’s handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies as to whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently."
Heck, fellows... maybe it was something in his astrological chart. Or, let's ask people who worked with Omar what they thought...
Gilroy, a former Fort Pierce police officer, said Mateen frequently made homophobic and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer several times but it did nothing because he was Muslim. Gilroy quit after he said Mateen began stalking him via multiple text messages — 20 or 30 a day.
Wow... just wow.

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LAST WORD: Oh yeah, just one small final point...bad, bad guns
Only one tiny problem. Omar Mateen did not use an AR-15. The point is that it is not an AR-15 and no one, other than the media, ever claimed it was an AR-15.
Remember, regardless of the make or model, it's the inanimate hunk of metal that's the real threat... not the religious fanatic on the trigger.