Silence Is No Longer a Luxury, Guns Are an Equalizer: Sue Green
TheGunBlog.ca — “This is the first time I’ve gone public as a gun owner. … As much as I was content being discreet, I strongly believe we need to change gun culture in Canada and I don’t have that luxury anymore. None of us do.” Read the rest of the guest article by Sue Green.
The following letter by Green was her response to the Toronto Star’s opinion column on Sept. 25 by Heather Mallick, Stop Coddling Crime and Gun Love. Ban Handguns. Green e-mailed her letter to the Star and to TheGunBlog.ca on Sept. 26. We waited until now to give the Star first dibs.
Green shared more context on her views exclusively with TheGunBlog.ca. We are publishing both the background and the letter below with her permission.
Update 13:55 Toronto time: Please feel free to forward, share or repost this article with a link to the original.
Background by Sue Green
I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the gun ban to be sure I’m not being blinded by the fact that something I love could be taken away. But I have yet to hear a truly compelling argument that convinced me that a ban would really make a difference.
So had this article come out earlier in this process, I may have still been weighing things and not been ready to respond, but it didn’t. It was published now and I’m in a much more confident place with my stance on this.
When I read Heather’s article, I wanted to call her out on being a man-hater, so badly. But I needed to keep the focus on our fight and not muddy the waters with other issues. My goal was to reach the non-gun owners that would be reading this so I had to keep emotion out of it. And I had to keep it short. Hard to do!
This is the first time I’ve gone public as a gun owner. Up until now, I’ve been pretty discreet. None of my neighbours know, very few coworkers know and only a handful of family/friends. As much as I was content being discreet, I strongly believe we need to change gun culture in Canada and I don’t have that luxury anymore. None of us do.
Letter
Re: Heather Mallick: Stop Coddling Crime and Gun Love. Ban Handguns.
As an avid and passionate sport shooter, the Toronto Star article on banning handguns was enlightening for me.
This sport has enriched my life in countless ways. I’ve learned new skills, improved my focus, gained more confidence and made many great friends. It helps that the shooting community is full of amazing people. You may not realize it, but you probably know many shooters. We are your neighbours, co-workers, friends and family members. We are law-abiding and we are good people.
Because of this, I have found it difficult to understand the targeting of law-abiding gun owners and why anyone thinks a gun ban would reduce violence. A handgun ban means this great sport and great community will be shut down and the violence will just continue with illegal guns as it does today. So why the gun hate?
But now I see. It’s the associations used in articles like this one.
Violence is violence. By using the term “male violence” you associate males with violence and you do everyone a disservice. The problem is not “males,” the problem is violence. The problem is not “gun violence,” the problem is violence.
We don’t ban alcohol because violence can be associated with it. Plenty of people drink alcohol without becoming violent.
This is simple: guns don’t cause violence.
People with violent impulses cause violence and these impulses don’t go away because guns do.
And we all know a ban generally has the opposite effect, so guns will never go away. Guns are here to stay. It’s just a matter of whether it’s only criminals who have them.
We need to ban guns for the sake of women? If I ever need to protect my life or that of a loved one, a gun is an equalizer. So please don’t ban them and tell me you are doing it for my sake.
If this is what feminism looks like, I want nothing to do with it.
Sue Green
Brampton, Ontario
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