Rural sentiment differs from urban fears on guns
Friday November 8, 2002 Roderick Benns
Stephen Lewis spoke at the recent Peaceful Communities forum and delivered his top points for creating a peaceful community. Roderick Benns and Michelle Strutzenberger investigate those topics further through a multi-faceted series on each point. Today, we begin a multi-pronged look at gun control.

Finding his balance between the potential crunch of Autumn leaves, Cam Baumhour aimed a loaded rifle and shot through a clearing. A three-year old black bear slumped to the ground.

That was about a week ago, and now Baumhour pats the bearskin hanging in his basement at his Waterloo home. His eyes sparkle when he speaks of the hunt that day in, appropriately, the Huntsville area.

The 38-year old hunter talks excitedly about making bear steaks and even bear pepperettes. He talks about where the skin will hang permanently, and the fact that it is his first bear ever.

This is a big part of his life, the hunt. He gets up early and stays out late during this time of year, and has for years. Baumhour believes he draws on his part-native heritage when he hunts; he wastes nothing and has a reverence for animal life in general, which non-hunters may have trouble understanding.

But Stephen Lewis, at the Peaceful Communities forum, said "no guns, period," as part of his top 10 points for building a peaceful community. The only exception he made was for those people living in remote areas who depend on hunting to survive. But that kind of thinking isn't even on Baumhour' personal radar screen.

Baumhour lives in Waterloo but hunts in the northern areas of the local counties here and in the surrounding areas. Taking guns out of the hands of responsible people who follow the letter of the law, is not even a concept he can understand, as a deterrent to violent crime.

"Guns don't do things by themselves. It's the people who use them," says Baumhour.

Peterborough Police Chief Terry McLaren agrees with Baumhour when it comes to law-abiding gun owners.

Stephen Lewis is "taking it to the extreme" when he says no guns, according to the chief.
"There's recreation purposes," says Chief McLaren.

"People use guns for target practice, for hunting. That's legal, so how do you put a ban on that?"

Floyd Howlett, past president of Kawartha Ploughshares, says communities are simply better off without guns.

"I lived in Japan for 30 years where virtually no one owns guns, except for some indigenous people who hunted. Tight gun control there has worked," says Howlett.

Kawartha Ploughshares is a local chapter of the national Project Ploughshares. It is an ecumenical coalition working for peace and justice under the sponsorship of 17 national church and civic organizations.

When asked about law-abiding hunters here in Peterborough County and in other pockets of Ontario, Howlett says he is also opposed to the unnecessary killing of animals.

"And they [guns] are not always used for what people say they are going to be used for," he says.

When further pressed about farmers protecting their livestock from other animal predators, Howlett conceded there may be a role for guns in this case.

"I suppose, if a wolf is after sheep and there's no other way to get him then it might be justified. But there has to be some attempt made to make a law that is clearly drawn up for farmers," he said.

In Part Two of this series, we will look at the gun registry and how this has helped police in curbing violence in communities.

Send this page to a friend

Articles may be reprinted with permission. Contact us at peaceful@newsroom5.com or 1-800-294-0051