Gun Control: Canada Vs USA

Gun Control: Canada Versus the United States of America

How are the gun laws in Canada and the USA similar and different? In 2013 the number of deaths due to guns was nine times higher in the USA compared to in Canada; it is not like Canadians do not own guns. When it comes to citizens owning guns, Canadians rate number thirteen in the world whereas the USA rates number one. This number brings along with it massive shootings not only performed by adults but also by minors. This is something that should be taken care of in order to have a more effective precaution on protecting citizens. It is the time that the USA adopts the Canadian approach to gun laws if they want to reduce the massive shootings that have happened on previous occasions.

Whereas in the USA there is no federal license for gun owners. And interestingly enough there are more states that prohibit all gun registration than states that have a form of gun registration. Another difference is that in Canada one can only carry guns in public if it is part of one’s occupation or in the rare case protecting one’s life. Conversely, gun owners in the USA can carry guns legally if they are concealed and some states one can carry guns openly in public. Although the USA and Canada both carry out background checks before issuing guns Canada’s background check is much more thorough and this is partly due to Canada having a centralizes database that contains critical information from each province. Whereas in the USA the information the FBI provides often misses criminal and mental health information. Additionally, Canadians must take a safety course and pass a both, written and practical exam as a license and registration requirement. In the USA there is no mandatory course and

There should be clearer laws with regards to what constitutes an acceptable storage device as this may decrease younger peoples’ access to guns in their homes. This could prevent massive shootings such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a twenty-year-old accessed parents’ guns and killed twenty-six people and let two other people with major injuries. In the USA there needs to be a federal law that prohibits civilian use of semi-automatic firearms. Young people have access to these guns because they can either buy them or get them from their parents. There have been massive shootings in the USA where the main weapons used were one to three semi-automatic guns, used by young people. It may also be beneficial for the gun laws in the USA and Canada to be controlled by the federal government. Having the two-tiered system of firearms laws complicates things and may create confusion amongst civilians. A clear example is that in some states in the USA citizens are allowed to carry guns on school campuses and other places with large numbers of people.This makes massive shootings more probable by allowing people to take guns into public places where society is an easy target.

The research reveals that there are more similarities than differences. When comparing gun laws in Canada to that in the USA, and the gun laws in Canada are more strict than in the USA.