Dear Editor,
Re: the column by Matthew Claxton [Options few on gun control, Langley Advance Times, Sept. 27,] while I would agree with many of his comments, but when he wrote: “The U.S., of course, decided that the answer to gang shootings, mass shootings, and a serious number of suicides by gun owners, was to do absolutely nothing.” Mr. Claxton was very incorrect. It took the U.S. over a decade to insert Conceal and Carry across their entire nation, doing so at a time (1990) when their homicide rate was at 9.1. In doing so, their homicide rate dropped to around 4. (Disaster Center Crime rates)
And Matthew, as far as you’re not being sure that stricter (read longer) sentences for gun crimes would do much to cut down on gang shooting rates, please note that the Vancouver Sun paper, years ago, did a study on criminals being released and found that 40 per cent of them repeated their criminal habits within the first year of release! 40 per cent! So, were they held in jail longer, and were unable to inflict themselves upon us sooner, how could their crime and shooting rates not be impacted upon?
Dennis Robinson, Burnaby