[Dr. Howard]

(05-14-2014 08:07 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote:  

(05-14-2014 05:39 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

Gun ownership preference and is purely a cultural issue.

Here in Alberta I can own a hunting rifle without a license if I purchase the gun privately.

Canada is relatively safe, our urban streets aren't flooded with guns and not every criminal has one (contrary to popular belief about Toronto/Montreal). Gun crime is rare compared to US cities with similar demographics (ethnic composition and population).

Then again our citizens are wealthier, have access to better education, and free healthcare at the point of access. Overall social indicators are better across the board up here. And we're a more diverse bunch than Americans, quite a bit more.

Diversity + Proximity = war? Conjecture.

America's high gun crime rate is most likely as a result of its lopsidedly constructed society. A society of slave-masters, slaves, and European peasants. A clear gradient of haves, and have nots.

America sits in the middle of the pack of settler countries, Latin America is more extreme version of the USA, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean are the slightly tamer.

Latin America has stupid amount of gun crime, the highest in the world. This is what happens when you have a handful of Spaniards/Portuguese expropriate the land of millions, and live under siege for 500 years in castles followed up walled mansions. They need guns to keep safe from all those poor that have no land, no food, and live in shanties.

This is the root of the controversy of gun ownership in the western countries.

The NRA is trying to get more young people, especially minorities who don't do outdoors shit to get on the guns bandwagon.

I like guns, and going to the bush and shooting shit up, but trying to convince my city buddies to do the same is a hit and miss.

America is full of trollism, it's hard to see the NRA succeeding in their goal to get young urban kids to take up legal gun ownership and the gun laws not being tightened thereafter.

Agreed. Here in Montreal, you could be walking in any given neighborhood at 3 AM and feel completely safe. Violent crime here is rare and its a decent-sized city. I cant say the same for ANY major city in the US. You hit it right on the head. The US has no safety net for its citizens. Once you hit rock bottom, youre basically fucked.

Here we go with this "Oh Canada you can walk anywhere at 3am" and "The US has no safety net for citizens"

1. The US safety net is better, in my opinion, than it is in Canada. Canada has welfare, free health care and unemployment insurance. The US has the same things for the poor and old, but also amazing subsidized housing, subsidized daycare, free pre school, free school lunches and food stamps.

2. Maybe you can walk the streets of Montreal at 3am buy you cannot walk the streets of winnipeg, edmonton or thunder bay at 3am.

Living in Canada, the midwest and now the south i do have a theory that contributes to poverty and crime though, warm weather. A good winter does two things...

1. It keeps people inside, its 4 months out of the year when people aren't going to be loitering in the alley getting all stabby because its too damn cold. You've really only got June through August for the months where criminals can wander for crimes of opportunity 24 hours a day.

2. The income threshold that you can drop to without dying is lower in warmer climates. Here in the south you can live in a destroyed trailer with broken windows or in a tent city under a bridge year round and not die from exposure. The US climate can support a much poorer population than Canada can. That poor population can be mobile in warm weather and seek opportunities to commit crimes.

LA, St. Louis, Memphis, all of Florida, new orleans, etc. only 2 cities in the US top 10 for danger are in midwest climates, which are balmy by canadian standards.