Donald H said:
So, a guy walking down the street with an AR-15 is immoral then?
I'd be interested to know what is immoral about that.
To me, it's a photo of a young man with at least a modicum of knowledge on how to use the rifle he's equipped with, since he's exercising proper trigger discipline and pointing his rifle in a safe direction as he's walking. The context of the photo is that he and other concerned citizens turned out at the request of local business proprietors to help prevent their hard-built businesses from getting burnt to the ground as had happened in previous days. If there's anything immoral here according my my morality versus that of yours, it's that the heavily armed and highly funded police didn't do their job and let rioters run amok. In circumstances like that the options are to just let your life's work get torched, or try to defend yourselves. Personally I am okay with citizens defending themselves against enraged mobs who are destroying their city when the state either refuses or fails to stop that mob.
My morality includes that it is permissible to defend one's self, defend others, and defend others' property. I see no inherent immorality to carrying a weapon. How one uses that weapon is where the morality comes into play.
Donald H said:
I don't have the credentials to define that which is acceptable behaviour. Please refer to Canadian lawl
Canadian law does not define morality, it simply defines what is legal.
If you think that Canadian laws are good concerning firearms that's a totally different topic than one arguing that Canadians are morally superior to Americans because you would not see the photo in question in Canada.
Except that we have seen scenes like that. Take, for example, the Oka Crisis. What are your thoughts on a photo like this:
Granted, that was a different time ... I'd have to check the laws, but it may have even been fully legal for those First Nations folk to be armed like that. Maybe it still is, I am not an expert in how the law impacts First Nations people differently.
And as to the question on 'morality', I have my own standards I try to live with but the best answer to your question would be that which others on this forum would define as morally acceptable as opposed to that which is legal.
Donald H said:
Nobody has answered my question yet on whether or not they would consider what Kyle and his fellow (whatever group he represents?) are doing as being socially responsible for Canadians in our country.
In Canada under our current laws, what they were doing would most likely be illegal. Granted, defence of property and defence of persons can be a defence to any charge under the criminal code, but that would be a tough road to hoe. In Canada, AR-15s are illegal now so you wouldn't be able to get an ATT even IF an ATT could be issued to go defend some businesses so ... most likely it would be illegal. It would get a bit more grey if they went out to defend people with something like a Bushmaster ACR (which is legal, non-restricted but looks an awful lot like an AR-15), but we do not have open carry laws in Canada so you'd be relying on ss. 34 and 35 of the Code.
So, from that perspective, that it's illegal, one could say it's "not socially responsible".
Taken from another perspective, if law and order had broken down in a Canadian city to the point that buildings and small businesses were being burnt to the ground, and there were people roaming around armed (like the "street medic" I pictured, or the guy who shot first at Mr. Rittenhouse) with impunity ... it might be the socially responsible thing to defend your community. I would not recommend it for the legal implications though, but purely from a moral perspective, I think it would be wholly moral to defend one's community.
I fully recognize that many Canadians would disagree with that. I simply don't agree with the prevailing opinion and would rather if Canadian society had laws and mores closer to those of the United States.
With all due respect to "soccer moms" their views are neither persuasive nor authoritative to me.