Essay: Examining the Debate on Citizen Gun Ownership in Canada

This essay delves into the contentious issue of gun ownership in Canada, examining arguments against the widespread availability of firearms. It highlights statistics on gun ownership, the potential for misuse of semi-automatic weapons, and the challenges faced by law enforcement in regulating gun ownership. The essay references a survey conducted by Anguis Red, revealing public sentiment against gun culture, and discusses the implications of easy access to guns on crime rates and forensic investigations. It also explores the viewpoints of social thinkers and criminologists, emphasizing the potential for increased crime repercussions due to easy access to guns. The essay concludes by advocating for government discouragement of gun ownership, citing concerns about the impact on policing, crime, and forensic science. It includes a bibliography of sources used in the research.

Should Citizen be allowed to Own Guns?
Introduction
According to official data released by Canadian authorities gives us an idea that more than 29
percent of house owners in Canada have more than nine million firearms. Plenty of them is
semi-automatic guns that have the capacity to open strong burst fires and kill dozens of
people in a single stroke. The Canadian authorities also claim that issuance of the license of a
gun is a tedious process and they make sure those only rightful and sensible citizens are
getting a license for the same. In the year 2019, a Nonprofit organization Anguis Red
conducted a survey about the gun ownership and its connection with the recent mass killings
in various parts of Canada, 50 percent respondents in Canada voted against the gun culture by
saying that individuals should not be allowed to own guns in Canada (Reid). In the present
essay, we are examining certain aspects of this gun culture from the point of view of the
individuals that are against it.
Someone’s deterrence may become a potential danger for the society
A license to own a gun disables the rights of the security personals. In the year 2017, Canada
was having more than188 police personal covering 100000 people. This number is very low.
A number of licensed guns create a problem for them where they fail to prevent a citizen
from carrying a gun at a public place. In the recent past Canadian Authorities also busted
many syndicates that were working as “black market setup” for illegal guns (Tunney).
Own a license for a gun, carry an illegal gun in your pocket, it is impossible for policemen to
check every gun owner that whether he is carrying a rightful gun or it is an illegal gun. Now
commit a crime, throw away the Gun and run. The forensic department will never be able to
figure out the owner of the gun because it is an illegal gun. Since obtaining a gun License in

Canada is an easy task, plenty of Criminals are taking advantage of this situation
(Montagomery).
Many supporters of the Gun license culture often takes a resort in the legal definition where
they say that “ the difference between a criminal and common men is only a weapon, because
weapon gives an additional combative power to the criminal, the similar weapon can also act
as a tool of parity and safety for a law-abiding citizen”. This sentiment given by numerous
court orders serves as the most powerful justification behind the ownership of a gun license
in Canada or any other part of the world. However, social thinkers and criminologists have a
different viewpoint on the issue. Most of them believe that easy availability of the guns
increase the repercussions of the crimes because guns can deliver the fatal blows very easily
(Kiejeco).
Conclusion
The government should discourage the culture of Gun ownership by all standards because
the easy availability of the Guns is supporting the criminals by cutting down the rights of
Policemen. Easy availability of the guns also increases the repercussions of certain
unpleasant conditions very effectively. An increase in the number of Guns also makes it
difficult for forensic science experts to handle the situation. It also means that an increase in
the number of gun licenses kills the deterrence associated with the active policing and tracing
of the criminals during the post-crime scenarios.
Bibliography
Kiejeco, Lynda. "RCMP Slows Printing Gun Licences, Fuelling Speculation of Bans." The
gun blog.ca (2019): https://thegunblog.ca/2019/05/15/rcmp-slows-printing-gun-
licences-fuelling-speculation-of-bans/.

Montagomery, Marc. "Controversial Canadian firearms control bill passes." Radio Canada
International (2019): https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2019/05/30/controversial-canadian-
firearms-control-bill-passes/.
Reid, Anguis. "Amid concern over the spread of gun violence, majorities support a ban on
handguns, assault weapons." Anguis Reid Institute (2018): http://angusreid.org/gun-
control-handgun-ban/.
Tunney, Catherine. "Number of police officers per Canadian hits 13-year low, Goodale told."
CBC (2018): https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/police-strength-canada-memo-
1.4722294.