More guns less crime

That's the title of a book by Yale professor John Lott. As a Canadian, it's practically in my genetic hardwiring to recoil from all that Yankee Second Amendment "cowboy yahoo" stuff. By definition, someone like Professor Lott is public heretic number one, and you don't even have to read his book. It has to be wrong -- it's American!

But then, no one in Canada is ever praised for questioning the rationale behind its gun control laws, let alone their value.

To whit, innocent citizens of my hometown of Halifax are becoming easy targets for swarming gangs of teens, some of whom carry guns. Show of hands -- who thinks the number of sickening attacks like this would drop if the bad guys understood that their victims might just shoot back? When the evil have weapons and will use them, the good should have the right to reasonable self-defense, no?

In Canada, the answer is no. In fact, you might not believe this one, but even if a bunch of hoodlums break into your house, and you repulse them with a knife, you could wind up in jail.