Laws in Canada

It should be a basic right to defend yourself with a deadly weapon from death or assault because most attacks, robberies and rapes occur outside of your house. They are used to deter or stop an attacker with a weapon as a knife or gun. Not with the intention to kill an attacker, but to stop them with as few shots fired.

A hand gun is the most effective self defense tool in the world. Many people who have little or no hope of defending themselves with their hands are able to do so with a gun. Canadians should be responsible enough to use defensive force in a reasonable and legal fashion.

It is legal under Section 34 and 35 of the Criminal Code for Canadians to use necessary force to protect their life, up to and including the use of deadly force. The Firearms Act and Regulations spells out who else in Canada can legally carry handguns. Under the Criminal Code, handguns are classified as either restricted firearms or prohibited firearms, which require an "authorization to carry". Under the Criminal Code, hand guns require an "authorization to carry" permit.

There have been many situations in both Canada and the United States where private citizens have taken it upon themselves to save others. An example of this is in 2002, a shooter on a rampage at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia was stopped after not one, but two students in different locations heard his shots and retrieved their weapons from their cars, returned, and placed him under arrest until the police arrived. Private Citizens should be trusted to carry arms without any resulting chaos. If someone in the Engineering classroom at Montreal's Polytechnique had been armed when Mark Lepine went on his murderous rampage there was a good chance that he could have been stopped before he killed the 14 young women.

Guns can have negative and tragic effect, but the benefits of firearms far outweigh the harm caused by them. The right to bear arms is not just to defend your home. It is also to defend yourself. Many of the individuals supporting gun control do not want to see more deaths occur because of firearms. No one likes death, but this is not the way to approach this situation. To assist in lowering the crimes involving guns, better background checks looking for a history of criminal activity and mental health issues should be made. In life-and-death situations, seconds can make a huge difference. A