Gun control is a sensitive issue.
Both sides of the coin, those who want more control and restrictions placed on gun owners, and those who want virtually unfettered access to and permission to use guns, are very much set in their ways.
There are very good arguments in favour of both sides of the equation.
Those in favour of more stringent control argue guns are dangerous, and can be even more so when in the hands of someone who in mentally unstable.
However, there are also those people who feel no one should interfere with what they consider their personal right to do whatsoever they choose.
While there have been numerous incidents in the past that focus public attention on the gun issue, they have usually taken place relatively far from Westlock.
But now there is an event that brings the gun issue to light in our own backyard — the seizure of more than a dozen firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and various other weapons paraphernalia in the Linaria area.
And to make matters even more disturbing, that arsenal included an AK-74 and an MP-5, both of which are automatic machine guns and therefore illegal to possess in Canada.
As Barrhead RCMP Sgt. Bob Dodds said, there is no rational reason for someone to have so much weaponry in their possession, not least when that weaponry includes prohibited firearms.
It is incredibly fortunate that when RCMP arrived on scene to seize the guns, no one was home who had designs on using the arsenal against the police.
Notwithstanding the number of officers involved in the seizure, but had someone been there with malevolent intentions, we could have been reporting on a massacre similar to, if not worse than, that perpetrated by James Roszko in March 2005. While we are lucky no one was injured or killed, this incident brings attention to the fact gun control is integral.
Short of hunting or pest control, there is no reason for someone to possess assault rifles with fully-automatic capabilities, especially to the extent of stockpiling an arsenal like that seized last week.
