At least several of the posters on this thread feel this way. Sure glad that not everyone see's things this way in the GWN.

There were a total of 554 homicides for ALL of Canada for the most recent data year (2010). Fairly low for a country of ~35 million. Some cities in the USA get somewhat close to that figure by themselves.

As a gun owner, I have never really felt the need for a CCW. Not sure I'd get one even if they were legal to the average Joe. Even living just 1.5 miles from Detroit MI and their high crime rate, our city didn't have a murder for 2 years, and the 1st murder of 2012 happened in May. We have 2 murders for the year thus far.

Not sure I'd feel the same about not having a CCW in some US cities though.

Sorry, but to many Canadians this is just funny.

The leap between being asked a question in a park and 'I wish I had a gun with me' is a foreign concept to most of us. As is the notion that a letter to the local paper would be in order. It is akin to me writing to the London times that I was offended by airport guards with machine guns. I go there as a guest and accept their laws and customs.

There is no issue of superiority, it's different here. Not better, not worse. Different. The 'judgmental' issue here started with the letter writer, not the host country.

And even if people thought that our gun laws made more sense, no one is applying that concept to life here in general.

I see no reason to get bent out of shape over this situation. We have the longest undefended border in the world and for the longest time. The fact that two countries can live side by with no major issues speaks for itself. As the French say, "vive la difference". If countries were all the same, much like people life would be ..... boring. A basic anthropological premise, don't judge another country by the standards of your own applies here. No we are not superior nor is the US superior, just a different culture.

While I totally get and respect other countries' cultures and laws and have no problem with Canadians' anti-gun sentiment, what you wrote above just isn't reality. In most (US) states where CCW is allowed, under 2% of the population has permits and probably only a fraction of them carry. Just because you can doesn't mean you will. And I'm not aware of a single altercation where two legal carriers escalated things to a gunfight. It just doesn't happen. Legal gun carriers tend to be the most law-abiding, well-behaved citizens. It's extremely rare, statistically negligent, that a legal carrier loses his right to carry because of misbehaving with a gun. I've been in several car accidents (never my fault) while I was carrying and the thought of even showing my gun never entered my mind. Anyone who would do so is not likely to be otherwise law-abiding or stay out of trouble for very long.

[QUOTE=Rick Lee I've been in several car accidents (never my fault) while I was carrying and the thought of even showing my gun never entered my mind. Anyone who would do so is not likely to be otherwise law-abiding or stay out of trouble for very long.[/QUOTE]

The glock in your waist band when riding your bike was only there to keep your pants from riding up and not for show???

No, it was there because I was riding someone else's bike with no tank bag or other luggage for storing the gun, it was 115 deg. out, a few miles from my house and I didn't feel like suiting up. I never ride in such attire, so I didn't think ahead that my shirt would ride up.

Rick,

Its a waste of time trying to do this. Showing facts and reason simply does not work...

I showed this thread to a Canadian friend of mine who lives down here and he just chuckled and said "Yea lots of them feel that way up there until they wake up. Thats why I moved down here years ago."

Let them ignore the truth and be happy in their own little world.

How does NOT allowing foreign tourists to carry guns differ from the US ????
Remember Mr Warma? A foreign tourist . Let,s hear facts here

I bet if he were on duty and someone said this to him, he wouldn't just let them walk away.
This is basically how I feel every time I encounter a cop.

Since 9/11 happened, I have to go through INSANE red tape to bring in my long guns to the USA for hunting or sport...let alone a concealed weapon!

The USA barely allows me to bring in long guns. No way do they allow foreigners to bring in concealed handguns.

So all the American gun self defense advocates here should Start petitioning YOUR government to " arm tourists at the border for their own protection ".
Leave Canada out of the discussion until then.
You keep your right to bear arms and we will keep our right to bare breasts. LOL

Why not both rights at the same time in USA and Canada?

Different country ,"vive le difference"

I don't want foreign tourists carrying here in the states. So Mr Warma needs to think this one out a bit more. Why would any gov't allow visitors to carry a weapon?

Sorry Canada, Warma was IMO out of line to suggest tourists should be able to carry. But he is certainly free to protect himself and his, and certainly free to speak his mind.

You guys should all be more like New Zealand. If we have a minior difference we settle it with a fist fight. A major difference, say a problem with another country, we settle it with a rugby game. Loser pays for the beers afterwards.

I like your style. Good thing I also like the All Blacks! I could live with their rules.

Wow Joe I just lost a little respect for you.....

Each of us is different, I'm not sure how all of Canada is ignoring the truth or living in our own little world, but we do try to mind our own business, and don't take everything the government tells us as truth.

I don't care about guns, I could own them but I don't, I don't care if my neighbour does. I don't agree with CCW in Canada except for extreme situations. If it's my time, doesn't matter if I have a knife, gun. nothing, it's my time.
I'd rather live my life to the fullest and not be so afraid of what might happen that I feel the need to carry a gun - again; each to their own.

Bob James

Hey Rick, I realize that not everyone in the US carries but it's natural that the more citizens that believe that they need a weapon to feel secure, the more that will carry. The natural outcome is more and more people will carry, that is with a CCW or not. This thread seems to have got a little PARF like, Canadians are very close cousins to Americans, and yes there are cultural differences, but fundamentally we're about as close as two countries can be. Hey I like you guys!

Exactly !!

Tourists here for a brief stay, probably not. But anyone who qualifies for a visa has had some sort of criminal background check done. And I wouldn't have a problem at all with foreigners carrying IF they've had proper training and a permit. In AZ we have hundreds of thousands of snowbirds for several months of the year, many from Canada. I would have no problem with those guys, given the proper processing, carrying. Foreigners are no less entitled to most civil rights on US soil than are citizens. They should have the means to defend themselves too. But again, I have no problem at all with other countries' laws, especially when most of their people tend to support them. Now, if it were just a little easier in Austria, that might tip the scale for me to move there.

Bob,

Sorry you feel that way. I have lived and worked in Canada and spend a lot of time with Canadians along the way.

Guess my experiences and relationships with Canadians are different than those of the majority of the posters on this thread. They are not happy with the govt much of the time, and many of its actions, and especially not happy with the govt playing what they see as political games with their weapons and ability to protect themselves.

Afraid that I agree with them from what I have seen. Problem is that many people feel that you should not have to carry a weapon and while I agree with that in principal, the crooks and criminals do not subscribe to that theory and they are almost ALWAYS armed in one manner or another.

When the criminals are eliminated from society (good luck with that one eh?) then no one will need weapons to protect themselves! Am not going to hold my breathe on that one happening in my lifetime as its sure not happened in the last 2000+ years on Earth.

Joe A

I suppose it depends on where in the country. You know..like if you go to Texas, some people there think George Bush is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and in other parts of the country...not so much. Same with out current gov't

As a gun owner and a Canadian, I'm a bit perplexed by your statement "especially not happy with the govt playing what they see as political games with their weapons and ability to protect themselves."

Could you elaborate on that one?

No, sorry, have spent far too much time on this thread and have to get back to work. My statements were pretty clear and should not need to expound further...

Take care and drive safe gents!

Joe A

Having grown up in NZ and lived in the UK, I find these guns vs no-guns threads highly amusing, but I don't think I have ever responded to one. But here goes nothing :)

I honestly think it is beyond the comprehension of people living in a country like the UK to even begin to understand the mentality that says I have to have a gun for my own protection and without one I don't feel safe. The idea of feeling that vulnerable and at risk (be it real or preceived) is quite simply alien to us.

Your comments on the UK are somewhat misleading. The UK didn't ban pistols/handguns at any time in recent history, it has for a very long time been difficult to own such guns. The incidence of gun crime in the UK is low. It is difficult to smuggle guns into the UK. To the extent that there is gun crime, it is often the same gun passed around from criminal to criminal, so the idea that "now the criminals carry guns" is for the vast majority of the time completely untrue. We simply don't have much gun crime because there are very few guns. Kind of simple, no? Its not rocket science - you make gun ownership easy and more people will get guns. No matter how "good" the individual gun owner may be, some will be stolen, some sold, some fraudulently obtained, some lost and they end up in the hands of criminals. You can still get a gun in the UK - a shotgun for traps, a rifle to hunt etc - but in the eyes of this society there is basically no legitimate reason to carry a handgun. Frankly if you did carry a handgun, people would suspect you were a criminal (or an undercover cop or spy I guess).

On the knife carry ban, it was introduced for a very specific reason. In some small areas of SE London (particularly) gangs of kids were using knives in fights. Was it widespread? No. Has the introduction of a crime/penalty reduced such fights/deaths? Yes. These were not people carrying a pocket knife in a belt holster, but kids with kitchen knife etc looking for trouble. I cannot imagine and have yet to see reported a single incident of a person carrying a knife for innocent purposes being arrested or even cautioned for carrying a knife. Most of our police actually understand the concepts of discretion and proportionate response (not all and not always, but mostly).

Would you believe that the vast majority of UK police are not armed? Why? They don't need to be, because very few criminals are.

Don't get me wrong, I don't suggest the UK approach would work in the US (in fact, I go so far as to say, I have no idea what would work), but importing US values arounds guns and self-defence and the peculiar right to bear arms (peculiar in the sense that no other country I can think of has this right), is arrogant, ignorant and generally unwelcomed. I suspect that is what has bothered our Canadian friends.

:)

What bothered me the most is the attitude that an American with a US CCW should have the right to carry in Canada BUT no such right exists for a tourist to the states . Only Rick lee even approached the issue of allowing tourists to the US to obtain a permit.
Let,s think about armed Mexican,Saudi, Russian, (insert any Muslim country here) etc etc tourists in the US before advocating changes to Canadian law to adopt American rights.
I can,t even get on a plane anymore with a pocket knife ,why would I expect to carry a gun across a border????

Getting a little parfy in here today.

And they are technically armed. But they are armed with a whistle, not a gun. :)

But the second part is pretty much spot on.