April 22^nd, 2002

Abilities Archive

Readers Respond

Re. "Up in Arms: Why Gun Control is Critical for Canada," by Barbara Turnbull, Fall 2001

Canadian firearm laws are among the most restrictive on earth -- but under the Firearms Act, a criminal can still legally purchase a functional long gun or hand gun. Entire classes of firearms, such as "antique firearms" -- a term which includes handguns, rifles, shotguns, and brand new firearms -- are not considered firearms and are exempted from all controls under the act. Other century-old firearms with historical significance are not considered antique firearms due to what appear to be completely arbitrary and meaningless distinctions between calibres. This tangle of laws does nothing to assist public safety.

I am licensed to bring my handgun to and from any gun range within 300 km -- but only via a "reasonably direct route." This means that if I were to stop along the way for milk and cookies, or to shovel a stranger out of the ditch, or help a disabled driver fix a flat, I could be criminally prosecuted.

Knives and blunt objects are overwhelmingly the criminal’s tools of choice -- not firearms. This was dramatically brought home to the world on September 11, when a band of terrorists armed with knives killed thousands in the span of an hour. One armed air marshall, pilot or even a properly trained passenger aboard those planes could have saved hundreds -- maybe even thousands -- of lives.

-- Brian Drader
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Ms. Turnbull should apologize for the great disservice she does to Canada’s disabled. She helps support a policy that will not prevent one single firearm injury yet which has seen over
$700-million spent on it.

ABILITIES should ask itself what three-quarters of a billion dollars in rehabilitative facilities could have done for Canada’s disabled -- all while this government has paid lip service to their plight.

-- Barry Glasgow
Woodlawn, Ontario

I would like to congratulate you for Barbara Turnbull’s article. Effective controls on firearms play an important role in preventing intentional and unintentional violence, death and injury. Physicians see firsthand the devastating physical, psychological and social costs of firearms to individuals and families. Every year, more than a thousand Canadians are killed and another thousand are injured by gunshots whether in suicides, homicides or unintentional injuries.

Particularly senseless is the toll on children. Canada ranks fifth among industrialized countries in the rate of children under 15 killed with guns, and firearms are the third-leading cause of death among 15-to-24-year-olds in Canada (in the U.S. they have been the leading cause!). Often, the culprit in tragedies involving children is the family rifle or shotgun, which has not been properly stored. Growing up in small-town Ontario, one of my classmates was killed by his brother in their barn in one such accident. And another was killed in a hunting accident in his early 20s.

I realize that a balance must be struck between civil liberties and the right to live in safety, as we see in the aftermath of September 11, and that controls on firearms are but one element of successful injury prevention strategies. However, I firmly believe that the measures contained in the Firearms Act strike the proper balance and are essential to help prevent tragedies, deliberate and accidental.

-- Dr. Neil Arya
Physicians for Global Survival
Waterloo, Ontario

Re. "Phantom Limb Pain -- Grape Seed Breakthrough?", Fall 2000

Thank you, Patrick Watson and ABILITIES magazine. As the prime caregiver for a gentleman of 80 years of age who has been an amputee for approximately 25 years, I would like to concur with Mr. Watson that the application of grape seed extract to prevent or ease phantom pain is most successful. This man started using these capsules in mid-March and was pain-free until the end of July. That bout did not last as long as prior attacks. Therefore, there was not the absolute exhaustion that followed the longer attacks. This in itself is a plus factor.
-- Elizabeth Hoffman
Toronto, Ontario

Re. Thumbs Down! ("Support for Robert Latimer"), Summer 2001

"People in the disability community are appalled that... the public continues to deny that Latimer did wrong." I am both in the disabled community and a member of the public and take offense at the suggestion that one thinks differently from the other. Please don’t assume that all disabled people think Latimer is anything but a caring parent who deserves our empathy and support. He is and I do."
-- Mary Erichsen
Estey’s Bridge, New Brunswick

Send your feedback to: Letters, ABILITIES magazine, 489 College St., Ste. 501, Toronto, ON, M6G 1A5; fax: 416-923-9829; e-mail: able@abilities.ca.