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.