When I heard about the shooting in New Brunswick, I was hurt. All these years I thought, despite the multiple shootings in the USA, that Canadians were more rational.
Then there was the van that ran over the pedestrians in Ontario, and I thought, at least it wasn't a gun-related massacre. We have to hang our hats on whatever hope we can.
Now the illusion has been shattered. Year after year of television shows showing the good guys solving crimes with a gun has caught up with us.
I was in army cadets as a teenager and learned to shoot a rifle. If someone had given me access to a handgun while on the range, I would have held it like The Lone Ranger or Marshal Dillon. I would have pretended to pull it out of my holster and pointed it at the target without aiming and missed the paper target at 25 yards.
Thanks to movie character Dirty Harry, I've learned that the standard police revolver won't always take down the bad guy. Thanks to police dramas, the .44 Magnum is passé. The weapon of choice is a Glock or a nine millimetre.
My understanding is that modern handguns are semi-automatic.
How many people in the 10 to 40-year-old age group don't know what a semi-automatic handgun is?
I've learned the two-handed stance and if presented with a handgun and a target at 25 yards, I might actually hit the target. I just need a large enough ammunition supply to keep firing until I hit what I'm aiming at.
Thankfully, we are safe in Powell River, but we might as well practise the new national anthem.
“Oh say can you see…”
Henry Hill is a City of Powell River resident.
