by Jim Merriam

"We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it."  John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The former president of the United States may not have known just how right he was in  his comments about changing times. Any doubters need look no further than Sept. 11 or the deadly sniper attacks that have been playing themselves out in the Washington, D.C. area over the past few weeks. These attacks have raised the issue of gun control for our southern neighbours, where the right to bear arms has been held sacred for most of the country during its entire history.Of course, it's a fool's debate because gun control, at least as constituted in Canada, would have no impact on the events in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

That's because of a simple fact that seems obvious to almost everyone except our political leaders and those who base their life decisions on emotion rather than thought. And that is that gun control only restricts the guns owned and used by law-abiding citizens. It  does nothing to stop, or even reduce the use of guns by criminals.

No one in their right mind could possibly believe that a maniac (or maniacs) such as the one wreaking havoc among our American neighbours would be stopped, or even slowed down, by the niggling detail of having to register his guns.

Individuals who are this cold and calculating, would not even consider obeying laws that had an impact on their guns or their actions with them.

Meanwhile, back in Canada the gun control debacle continues apace. Some deadline about it all is coming up soon, but I don't know exactly what that is because I don't get communication from the gun control fascists. My story is a little complicated, but I was late applying for a firearms acquisition permit and was told I would have to challenge the safety test in order to get one. With the help of one of my faithful readers who provided me with a manual to study for just such a challenge, I proceeded down that path, albeit slowly. So slowly, in fact, that I reapplied to the feds for a possession, rather than an acquisition permit. Supposedly, you don't have to "challenge" the test for a possession permit.

That change in application was sent early in June so of course I haven't had a reply yet.
(No one knows how busy you really can be trying to take guns away from ordinary citizens in an entire country.)

Which means I am likely to be in contravention of some part of the law when the next deadline passes, maybe around the end of the year. I am, however, at a loss to understand what law, of course.

Before we go further, I must point out that the only weapons I own are a simple .22 rifle and a shotgun and the last thing I can remember shooting with either one was a rabid fox that was attacking my horses and would have posed a threat to my children. That was more than 20 years ago, or one farm before the Funny Farm, if you follow the way we track the passage of time around here. 

However, I argue that I have a right to own my weapons, both of which were gifts from long-deceased relatives, for just such purposes.

Although the gun control folks can't find time in four months to answer my simply request (sent by registered mail by the way) they have had time to warn my long-deceased grandfather that he is subject to all kinds of dire consequences if he doesn't register the "restricted" weapon that government records indicate he owns.

The pistol in question, I believe, was a very old and very unique six-shooter. Unlike conventional six shooters, it did not have a cylinder that rotated to deliver new rounds to the chamber each time it was fired. Rather his gun had six barrels that rotated around to make ready the next shot. I remember nothing more about it than that, since he donated the weapon to the Bruce County Museum when I was but a child at his knee. Within a few years it was stolen from the museum, but that's another story.

Anyway, Grandpa was a bit of a hunter in his younger days but pretty much had given that up by the time I was born. And he hadn't owned or used a gun for years before his death in 1964.

But the feds still think he owns a restricted weapon and by all that's holy if he doesn't follow their new rules about registration, he will be subject to the full force of the law. My grandfather was both a law-abiding citizen and a Liberal. He would be appalled at the way his name is now being bandied around by these characters. I also guess he'd be appalled at how far this government has reached into the private lives of its citizens.

I feel the same way.
 
 

NOTE:Jim Merriam's Funny Farm column appears in  the Owen Sound Sun Times Wednesdays and Saturdays.