Criminal Law Essay:

Reforming Canada’s Gun Control Laws

Vikram Sidhu
CLU3M0 – B
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Ms. Grant, Mr. Melkoumian Guns have proven to provide power to the people for centuries until now, where in Canada only the government holds this power entirely. In Canada, the use of guns has been limited so strictly that the people virtually have no control over guns at all; this is due to the unreasonable gun controls of Canada. To begin, the cost to enforce gun control laws in Canada is unnecessary, and blocks nearly all potential profit of the gun market thus adding to the downward trend of the economy. Furthermore, these laws have proven useless in achieving their sole objective, stopping crime. Lastly, the laws do not demonstrate the fundamental rights and freedoms set by the constitution due to unreasonable laws and vigorous investigations. Therefore, the gun control laws of Canada must be reformed to allow Canadian citizens to use guns under regulation because it costs Canada greatly to enforce the gun control laws, they have proven useless in stopping crime, and the laws are unjust to Canadian citizens. By enforcing gun control laws Canada spends an unnecessary sum of money which alternatively could be used to accumulate a profit if reformed. The gun control legislation at first glance was estimated to cost two million dollars but has exceeded that amount tremendously. A financial expert noted, “The most vehemently debated aspect of Canada's gun control legislation is the gun registry program, a project which has reportedly exceeded its initial budget estimate by nearly $1 billion dollars” (Paul). This massive budget could be used towards other aspects of Canadian lives, ones that have a positive impact unlike gun control laws. Moreover, not only do control laws have a massive budget but they also block out an entire market completely, the gun market. An expert on the matter stated, “Firearms have been a significant contributor to the economy of Canada since the days when every town and village in the country had at least one resident gunsmith” (Renneboog). As a result, the gun control legislation proves to be an unreasonable negative impact on the economy with its blockade of the fire arms market. To continue, a major aspect of this market is the hunting community; it is community that attracts tourists and promotes healthy active living. In 1996 Statistics Canada surveyed that at least 1.2 million Canadians took part in hunting activities with a combined expenditure of $824 million (Renneboog). This number has decreased over the years because of gun control related legislations that if continued, will make this Canadian heritage extinct. Thus, gun control proves to be an unaccounted for expense that instead could be acting as a revenue to the Canadian economy. The backbone of gun control laws, preventing crime, has fallen short from delivery as fire arm related crimes continue, most prevalently in recent shootings such as the Eaton Centre shooting. To begin, many researchers have noted that fire arm legislation do little to prevent crime, “It has also been demonstrated that the registration of a long gun goes not prevent its use in either suicide or crime” (Renneboog). A gun is merely a tool and instead of investing money in control guns, this money should be invested in policing to control people. Furthermore, gun control laws aim to control legal gun owners rather than control the criminal use of guns, “Bill C-68 put more restrictions than ever on legal handgun ownership, but did nothing to address illegal handgun ownership” (Lee). As a result the legislation punished legal gun owners while failing to do anything against illegal gun owners thus rendering the legislation pointless. Lastly, across the world similar gun control laws have failed on multiple occasions. Most prevalently in the case of New Zealand, where a legislation for the