28/03/2023
GUN Violence - FREEDOM, LIFE and LIBERTY : alarming figures
I am a brown lawyer living in North America with my family. One could call me, fairly wet behind my ears in this great continent of freedoms, life and liberty as I am only 3 years old here! Along with these great freedoms, life and liberty, comes the right to carry arms to protect one self.
Personally having my formative gun control legislative background from Kerala in India, a lot of times I feel throughly confused reading the reasons and jurisprudence about the right to possess and carry a GUN from American and Canadian courts*
Although I enjoy and cherish, the freedoms, life and liberty that North America gives, at times the right to carry guns as given in the American 2nd Amendment or the Canadian legislations, read along with some statistcs on GUN Violence that I follow, SCARES me and makes me wish; if only the dissenting views from landmark judgments were discussed and considered further!
On March 27, 2023, while waiting to watch the funeral ceremony of Const. Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30 of the Edmonton Police Service, I get a news update that yet another mass shooting in a school happens in USA, in the state of Tennessee, city of Nashville. I have a friend ( a former manager / senior lawyer), who has school going kids and who lives in that city.
The news gets me worried and I try get the thought out from head while watching funeral service of the two constables of the Edmonton Police Service, the two young officers who were killed in a tragic shootout in the city of Edmonton.
The province of Alberta has also tabled a legislation on this particular right to carry arms, as a political stand to the opposition in Ottawa. The tragic incident of Edmonton Police Officers getting shot and killed, coincidentally happens one day after, this Provincial Fire Arms Act Bill 8 gets tabled.
By the time the funeral service is over, I confirm that the friends family is safe and that they now live in a different city in Tennessee. At the same time of relief, there is a grief that is brewing inside me and I feel very disturbed, looking at my charts of research about GUN Violence, a short detail of which is provided below-
Canada:
Fire Arm Related Crimes in 2021 - 8047*
USA:
People killed in Sept 11th, (911) attack - 3000 (including hijackers)
People killed in gun violence (wilful, malicious and accidental ) in USA in 2022 - 20,200
Teens killed or injured in 2022 - 5,157
Children killed or injured in 2022 - 995
Mass shooting incidents in 2022 (killing or injuring more than 4 people) - 647
Mass shooting incidents in 2023 - 130
And now the primary reason why this right to carry arms is given, to PROTECT ONESELF amongst many other reasons:
DEFENSIVE USE - 1178
A rough conclusion: For everytime the purpose of the right to carry gun was excercised, in defense (person or property) about 20 people got killed by the same right, which either made it a constituional or a legal right with relaxed norms!
Grieving with the families and people who have lost loved ones to GUN VIOLENCE, I read the legislation passed in 2021 by TENNESSEE relaxing it and ALLOWING ANYBODY OVER 18 TO POSSESS AND CARRY WEAPONS WITHOUT TRAINING OR PERMIT.
The numbers stares at me and asks the question, so much for FREEDOM, LIFE AND LIBERTY ?
*Not getting into the intricacies of the American 2nd amendment , which makes it a constituional right and the Canadian legislations which empowers a man to carry a gun for different purposes.
** The link below from statcan provides an exhaustive report which contains many alarming figures on gun violence in Canada.
For anyone who likes to read or listen more on this subject:
1.https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-005-x/2022001/article/00002-eng.htm
2.https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/01/new-no-permit-tennessee-handgun-carry-bill-what-to-know/4836900001/
3.https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
4.https://www.edmontonpolice.ca/AboutEPS/InMemoriam
