Guns
Canada has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. There are almost as many rifles per capita in Canada as in the United States. Gun ownership rate is about 29% of households with great regional variations. Typically, rural is much higher than urban, west higher than east. The majority of Canadian firearms include rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Firearms are readily available to licensed Canadian citizens. Fully automatic firearms are an exception and are generally prohibited from private ownership.
It is effectively illegal to carry concealed handguns in Canada. There is a permit that allows people to carry if they can prove they need to protect their lives under specific circumstances, but the permit is very rarely issued to civilians. The topic of Authorization To Carry (ATC) permits has been a long standing topic of issue among legal firearm owners in Canada. The Canadian Association for Self Defense and the National Firearms Association are currently working towards amending the Canadian Firearms Act to enable law abiding citizens to more easily attain ATC permits.
Read more about this topic: Crime In Canada
Famous quotes containing the word guns:
“The parents who wish to lead a quiet life I would say: Tell your children that they are very naughty—much naughtier than most children; point to the young people of some acquaintances as models of perfection, and impress your own children with a deep sense of their own inferiority. You carry so many more guns than they do that they cannot fight you. This is called moral influence and it will enable you to bounce them as much as you please.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)