I see absolutely no reason for the personal possession of handguns and most certainly not for assault weapons. If that interferes with a personal hobby, then too bad.

—Dr. M. Clement Hall

I am a pathologist who has been performing forensic autopsies since 1983. In 1990, I spent a week at the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto. One afternoon, the director of ballistics showed me a room covered with confiscated guns used in crimes. He was quite clear that at that time the vast majority of handguns used in crimes were manufactured in the United States and imported illegally. He showed me a silver colored six-shot revolver and stated that it sold for about $50 in Detroit and $600 on the street in Toronto.

If this situation has changed there should be no problem amassing the data to prove it.

So what is the solution? First, we need data. In the absence of proof that legal firearms are being diverted to the criminal market, restricting their sale any further would seem pointless. Effective border controls might help if most guns are coming from the U.S. But we must consider that a motivated killer often finds other ways to do horrific damage to other people.

—Dr. Rocke Robertson, Cranbrook, British Columbia

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Handguns have absolutely no place in our society. Although we have laws already on the books, we need more — and more enforcement. Having a gun in the city is completely unnecessary unless you are a policeman. Why would anyone else have a gun: target practice? That is a pretty lame explanation for needing to own a killing tool!