Amen to that!

Three weeks ago, here in Montreal, another nutcase attacked Dawson College with an automatic weapon.  One 18 yr old girl was killed and a number were wounded.  This is the third such incident in this city in the last 17 years.

"What are the guns for? So that citizens can rise up against a government they don't want? I think the Civil War settled that issue some time ago : it's illegal."

What about the Revolutionary War? People rose up against the established government then, too. The only difference was they won that one. It's only illegal if you're on the losing side.

People have been killing people for as long as we can remember. Take away the guns, they'll use knives, take away the knives, they'll use rocks. At that point, it gets very difficult to take away the rocks.

I'd rather live in a world where everyone can get guns as opposed to one where only a select privileged few can.

True. I think gun control should fit the specific needs of the community. A rancher living in a remote region who cannot count on the protection of law enforcement certainly should have access to certain types of guns. A civilian living in Los Angeles has no business owning an AK-47.
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So does a civilian in LA have business owning a handgun or a .22? 

So we're all into forming "well-organized militias", then?

I know I'm not organized!

"The victims of gun violence would rather not. Of course, you may not have a place for them in your idea of what our society should be."

Nice. Why bother rebutting an argument when it's so much more fun to demean someone?

First of all, don't presume to speak for someone other than yourself. Unless you've been the victim of gun violence, all you're doing is making an assumption based on your own views. And we all know what assuming does.

Secondly, don't presume to know what my idea of society is based on one statement. It's made on insufficient evidence.

Fact is, we live in a society where guns exist. They're obtainable by the criminal element regardless of any existing laws. Any sort of blanket ban on firearms would reduce those possessing them to the law-enforcers and the law-breakers. People would still be victimized, only now those who would otherwise have been able to defend their house/loved ones would not be able to. History has as much as shown us this. In Feudal Japan, banning swords only led to the creation of newer (and in some ways, messier) weapons. Let's not give the criminal element cause to improvise.