On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman shot 32 people, professors and students, at Virginia Politechical University. This is what I wrote and was printed in "Lethrbidge Herald" on April 19, 2007.
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IT’S PEOPLE, NOT GUN CONTROL
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A reflection on mass killing at Virginia Tech
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I hate to sound like the NRA, but I believe that any gun control measure will not work in the United States. Gun Control works in a society where people want gun control, and does not work where people do not want it. No law is effective without consent of people. This is why, for example "Prohibition" of the 20”s didn’t work.
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The United States of America is made up of people in the main who do not trust institutions. Their fundamental dictum is "Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness" which is basically individual responsibility. This is why America is such an exciting country where creativity and inventiveness thrive. Count the number of Nobel Prizes won by Americans. But at the same time it is an inherently violent country, because nothing holds them back in pursuit of individual goals (happiness). This is why "Gun Control" will not work even if by some freak of accident it is legislated. I hope I’m wrong.
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In the meanwhile, we in Canada believe in institutions: our happiness can be achieved in "Order and Good Government". It’s a communal project. We try to create institutions that help us achieve our goals. This is why we believe in gun control measures. And they work. We trust police to protect us, for example. If they don’t, we reform them. Switzerland is another such country I know – I lived there for six years. There are more guns relative to population than any country I know. Each adult man has a gun at home supplied by the government, because it is a citizen’s army – every man is a soldier. But very few any gun crime is committed, except suicide. This is another example of a society that believes in institutions.
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I can not offer any suggestion to Americans. But in Canada, I believe that Gun Control is a good thing. Keep it.
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Tad Mitsui
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1264 8th Avenue South, Lethbridge, AB T1J 1R1
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403) 328 6230