By EARL McRAE, Ottawa Sun
Last Updated: March 7, 2011 8:27pm
James O’Hara, asked why he loves handguns, was initially reluctant to talk about it when informed that guns — handguns, long guns — as the choice of weapon by Bad Guys was on the rise in Ottawa.
Who can blame him?
He knows what happens whenever gun stats make the news. Law-abiding people like him, who are members of gun clubs — and there are hundreds of clubs across Canada — get attacked by the trembling uninformed who believe that anyone owning gun, particularly a handgun, for sport, hobby, or collection, is probably somewhat sick in the head, be v-e-e-ry careful around them.
It’s also the reason why he wants to make it clear that before he opens up on the subject, he is not speaking on behalf of the RA Centre Gun Club, of which he is a member, but only for himself.
Bad-intentioned gun usage is a complex, complicated sociological issue, not one of gun manufacturing; notwithstanding that Americans — having the constititutional right to bear arms — make gun manufacturing a profitable business in the Ecstatic States.
While Johnny Cash had a hit record singing about having “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,” not Gordon Lightfoot, or any other Canadian, would sing about having “shot a man in Red Deer just to watch him die.”
Nor, like Johnny, would our culture lend him to singing about not bringing your guns to town, son. At the worst, it’d be about son not bringing his migraine to town.
When I was a kid pre-television, my heroes were in comic books, and they were cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry who’d never shoot to kill evil owlhoots, just wing ‘em.
Most kids back then had a pair of toy six-guns bought for us by our parents, and outside we’d play Cowboys and Indians, shooting one another with our voices — ”Blam, Blam, you’re dead!”— and I know not one of my friends who grew up to become a proud and accomplished gun-toting armed robber or homicidal maniac due to the influential delights of those childhood toy-guns, and blam, blams, you’re dead.
I’m not a member of a gun club, but I’m sure I’d enjoy firing some rounds at targets, or competing in competitions with other clubs, under the strict, supervised, controlled, highly regulated conditions I’d be subjected to in gun clubs after my licencing and training.
And I would not want to be lumped in with the gun Bad Guys simply because guns — including those smuggled into the country, or stolen — are increasingly being used by real Bad Guys.
Let society’s gun-moralizing sanitizers hear the words of James O’Hara who’s never committed armed robbery, never shot, killed, wounded, threatened anyone with a gun in his life.
“My interest in guns started as a boy. When it was raining out, my mother would send me to the basement to play with my (toy) guns. I’d play Cowboys and Indians outside with my friends. It was socially acceptable. It’s no longer true.
“My interest evolved because the opportunity was available to learn about the safe use of handguns, and so did I. I joined a club. My sport is a world sport, active in 65 countries. I have earned the right to own my guns in a highly regulated environment.
“Individuals who do not embrace ideas in order to understand them usually become misinformed or misguided. Political correctness is caused by politicians and fear of the unknown.
“I would say that anyone who thinks I have a screw loose is guilty of profiling. This is not acceptable. I urge interested people to become more informed by visiting a gun club.”
The number and type of guns he has? “This is information that would be of no use to you unless you were a criminal.”
Where does he keep his guns? “The Firearms Act and its regulations are very clear as to the storage and transportation of firearms, I comply with this legislation.”
Is he ever concerned about his guns being stolen? “I am no more afraid that criminals will break into my house than any other citizen would be. However, you should be aware that you will never find my guns.
“The people who know where I live and that I have guns are trusted. However, they do not know where I keep them either. They have no need to know this.”
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Mar 8 Mar 2011 - 9:25
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