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[Gippeto]

Seriously who amongst us would ride a bike with a rifle over our shoulder? .

Since you asked.....I was out riding a couple years back, and stopped in at a pawn shop. Ended up buying a nightstalker for dirt cheap. Rode the 80km home with it strapped to my back....didn't even raise any eyebrows that I'm aware of.

I was not breaking any laws by doing so. Should we reinforce the belief of idiots that ANY time they see a "gun" it's illegal?

Those people who react with "AAAHHH" at the mere sight of a firearm need to be educated that firearms ownership/transportation/use IS in fact LEGAL in this country....whether it's outside their comfort zone or not.

Maybe it's just a rural Alberta mind set? Firearms are abundant, commonly seen, and considered to be TOOLS out here.

Al

[AirGunEric]

I think the symptom of a/the "gun problem" has become much worse than the actual problem- the panic-stricken "urban mentality". I grew up in Toronto and left a number of years ago, eventually started to sell the airgun stuff. When I was having a discussion with a colleague in my second job and mentioned I sold airGUNS (!!!) and riflescopes! They, in Ottawa and visiting from Toronto, almost developed a new pair of wet brown trousers. This is where it was underlined to me- this person was about 25 years old, grew up entirely in Toronto, probably never saw a tent or a campground in their life and the only "gun" anything they ever heard was esoteric talk about some wonderful "registry" and the gang-bangers shooting one another at Jane-Finch and the Scarborough parties (shootings at parties in Toronto's projects and east end are hardly 'new').

This person had no actual knowledge on gun-anything, but a very strong perception resulting in the word "gun" inciting fear and that any gun, anywhere, anytime, was only intended for two purposes- to rush into a large group of people and start shooting them, or to be held by a law-enforcement officer in a uniform to shoot the person in the first part of this statement. These are the types of people that see a cop and almost fixate on their sidearm for a period of time (I have met a few) whereas many of us hardly notice beyond casual observation they are even carrying a gun- despite some of them hanging off their belt in such a manner that it seems almost intentionally presented (i.e. the 5' tall officer with the 8" revolver sort of thing).

And not to drag this off, but this 'urban mentality' has gone to the extreme in as far as I have anecdotally observed; a recent example was a discussion with a buddy of mine in Toronto who mentioned that rabbits seem to be almost infesting alot of areas of the western GTA- obviously because of habitat displacement. So I say, "next time I'm down I will bring something and we can eliminate a few of them". His response? "Don't do that, we'll have a SWAT team at my front door 5 minutes after you take a gun case out of your car". He elaborates; "last week a woodchuck got hit on the road in front of my house. Pretty much dead, but I think it might have had a few remaining nerve twitches. Neighbour a few doors down notices it, blocks traffic in both directions (on a fairly significant street) and starts calling out to people to call the humane society- and continuing to block traffic for half an hour. Animal services eventually did show up, scooped it into a sack and left."

Then of course, we all hear the stories of people having raccoon problems- so instead of kill-trapping or shooting them, they live-trap and then take them somewhere (?) and release them. Yeah, that'll solve the problem. It is things like this that leave me puzzled at the bizarre goings-on in this "urban mindset"- people with guns are only out to kill other people, and animals are sacrosanct no matter how destructive and/or harm-inducing they may be. In the event some poor woodchuck (or maybe squirrel or whatever) may be injured, we should all stop our lives and throw the same sort of emergency/medical resources at it as we would for a small child. Something just ain't right in peoples heads these days- but I haven't quite figured out the reasons.