Forward – this from our friends in the Great White North

Subject: Imagine having these rules for car ownership

St. Catherines Standard, December 10, 1999
Imagine having these rules for car ownership,
John A. Gayder, The Standard

Paul Wintemute’s letter (“Cost of gun registry is justified,” The
Standard, Dec. 2) comparing guns to cars is an interesting one. Since
cars are as dangerous as firearms — and cause far more deaths per year,
let’s see how car owners would feel if they had to live under rules
similar to those affecting gun owners:

- Your car must be stored in a locked garage when not in use.
- You cannot store your car anywhere but in the garage listed on its
registration.
- The gas (ammo) must be drained from the car when not in use, and must
be locked up separately from the car.
- You need to show identification to buy gas, and have every sale of gas
to you recorded.
- Your car can only hold five gallons of gas.
- A government inspector can enter your house at will to ensure your car
and gas are properly stored and can only hold five gallons.
- Only the person who owns the car is allowed drive it.
- If a person steals your car, then puts their own gas in it and commits
a crime with it – you get charged for unsafe storage.
- You are only allowed to own cars capable of certain speeds or
performance. (Rugged, off-road — “Assault vehicles” — are banned. Cars
that look too “fast” or “aggressive” are banned.) – You must get written
permission to drive your car from point A to B, only during certain
hours, and only for activities that are approved of.
- Any deviation from the shortest route between A and B is a criminal
offense — even taking it to the shop for repairs.
- Using the car to protect yourself or others (like by escaping from a
rapist or robber), is a criminal offence — because only people with
special training (the police) are allowed to use cars for that.
- When you tell people you own a car, they start cracking drunk-driver
jokes, then ask if you are planning to snap and drive over school kids
anytime soon.
- Even though you drive safely and responsibly, you are repeatedly
shouldered with new laws created in response to the actions of crazed
scofflaws who drive drunk or without licences. Meanwhile, the idiots
responsible get mere slaps on the wrists.
- If you die, your car gets destroyed without compensation to your
estate.

These are just a few analogies of the rules and conditions legitimate
(Canadian) gun owners are subject to, and the list gets seemingly longer
every day. Wintemute may want to live in a society in which everything
is governed by a million rules, but most people don’t. If he requires
so many rules to behave himself, I suggest he move to China or Cuba.
They have lots of rules there.

John