Blame America

Bumped to the Top.

I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and guess what? Martin got kicked to the curb. I guess Canadians are less ostrich like than I predicted, and good for them.

H/T David Codrea
***

So titled is the Doug Gamble piece up at NRO, in which he discusses the idea of personal and national responsibility in regards to Canada's Paul Martin.

Martin, in the midst of a reelection campaign in which America bashing is such a major tactic it drew a rebuke from the U.S. ambassador to Ottawa, also chimed in on the shootings. Claiming that half of the gun crimes in Canada involve weapons entering illegally from the U.S., he said, "What we saw is a stark reminder of the challenge that governments, police forces, and communities face to ensure that Canadian cities do not descend into the kind of rampant gun violence we have seen elsewhere."

The words "descend" and "elsewhere," of course, refer to the U.S. By refusing to address Canada's own role in the shootings, it appears that Martin is gearing up to have Canada join some of the world's Islamic countries who blame all their problems on either the U.S. or Israel.

In what is obviously pure politics, he has pledged to ban all handguns if reelected on Jan. 23. But Canada already has stiff restrictions against such guns, and a ban would only take them away from law-abiding citizens and leave them in the hands of gang members and other criminals.

If anything, I think Mr. Gamble may have been a bit too lenient on the Canucks.

For example, the bit about ensuring Canadian cities don't descend into violence. An obvious earmark of the socialist utopia Canada wishes it were, this statement makes me want to laugh and cry. Violence is human nature. Men and women, without any influence or preexisting conditions, will naturally devolve into violence given enough time. This can be observed as interpersonal, intrapersonal or environmental violence, and it is a given. It will happen - the only question is when. The fact that Martin is either ignorant of human sociology or chooses to ignore it is distressing to say the least.

But aside from the philosophical differences I may have with what he has to say and look at another angle that Gamble took on Martin. The handgun ban.

A total ban on handguns ensures one thing - a disarmed law-abiding citizenry and an armed contingent of thugs.

I've always loved the old saying "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." It's an excellent example of a de jure principle. When guns become outlawed, those who possess guns are ipso facto criminals by simply owning a gun. For a citizen to remain above-board and law abiding within their jurisdiction, they must surrender their right to a firearm, at which point - it seems to me - it becomes illegal to be both a citizen of the United States and the city within which you dwell.

In essence, a handgun ban like we see in SF and DC deprives the citizenry of their ability to remain law abiding. It only affects the law abiding. You don't see criminals turning in the tools of their trades - you see citizens, with registered and legal weapons, being forced to surrender their private property to a government which has arguably overstepped its bounds.

This is what they propose. In simple terms, they want to make you - the Canadian gun owner - an outlaw in their perfect socialist utopia. They don't trust you. They don't want you to be free. They'd rather rule a defenseless and placated sheep than a free-thinking and -living populace. You scare them.

And the stuff with blaming America for your problems? Please. Shut the fuck up, Martin, you half-an-imbecile. Are millions of illegal Americans entering your country every year to live illegally? No? Then surely the US military makes frequent jaunts across your southern border to seize confiscated drugs and weapons? They don't? Oh, thats right - those are the problems that WE have with our southern neighbor. You get senior citizens buying prescription drugs. I wonder how you manage...

Take responsibility for your own house and your own problems. It's not your neighbors fault when you beat on your wife, and neither is it your neighbors fault when your kids steal things from his garage that you find objectionable.

I think Gamble's parting shot hit the x-ring.

It is easier to blame the U.S. and remain in denial than to recognize any need for Canada to take responsibility for its own problems. While America's national symbol is the eagle, Canada's should be the ostrich.