Gun ban only part of solution to crisis
Re How to stop criminals from getting handguns, Aug. 19 It would be wise to listen to a criminal lawyer on stopping gun violence.
Reid Rusonik begins by noting that the recent spate of shootings is a symptom, the ultimate cause of which is criminalizing drugs. He concludes that while a gun ban may help alleviate the current crisis, it will only be part of the solution we need.
Rusonic and his colleagues have practical advice for us to prevent, rather than react to, our gun crisis. Decriminalizing drug use and treating it as a health issue rather than a policing issue is a great start because it helps us focus more on prevention than reaction.
For young men “desperate to escape the degradation of poverty,” giving them good reasons to live — not selling drugs and guns — may help staunch the bleeding by turning them in better directions. Salvatore Amenta, Stouffville
I read with amusement Mr. Rusonik’s proposal for a handgun ban, interestingly enough while cleaning my Glock 17 after a lovely afternoon shooting with friends and family.
Rusonik is a well-meaning criminal lawyer advocating the decriminalization of drugs in order to rid society of handguns. As I understand it, his argument is this: once everyone has access to cheap legal narcotics, there will be no further need for anyone to have guns.
Am I missing something? Making drugs legal will make handguns disappear?
The reality is that if narcotics were decriminalized, the criminal thugs currently battling over drug turf would simply move on to another commodity. Human trafficking, perhaps? Does Mr. Rusonik propose that should be decriminalized as well? How permissive are we willing to be in order to persuade the gun-toting thugs to give up their weapons? Is our society willing to pay that price? Paul Graham, Mississauga
Do people really believe in the good faith of a man whose sole job in the world is to get the best deal for thugs and junkies? The best deal for criminals, not society?
By banning legal handguns, he suggests that we criminalize and then steal from people who aren’t causing murder and mayhem in our streets and go easy on the ones that actually do.
I leave it to readers to decided where their moral compass lies. Andrew Tyler, Victoria