American visitor feels unsafe in Calgary without his gun

[viper37]

I recently visited Calgary from Michigan. As a police officer for 20 years, it feels strange not to carry my off-duty hand-gun. Many would say I have no need to carry one in Canada.
Yet the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be al-lowed to protect himself if the need arises. The need arose in a theatre in Aurora, Colo., as well as a college campus in Canada.
Recently, while out for a walk in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail, two young men approached my wife and me. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"
Herald columnist Naomi Lakritz: Officer's comments reflect cultural divide between Canada, U.S.
We ignored them. The two moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"
I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentle-men, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.
I speculate they did not have good intentions when they approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone.
Would we not expect a uniformed officer to pull his or her weapon to intercede in a life-or-death encounter to protect self, or another? Why then should the expectation be lower for a citizen of Canada or a visitor? Wait, I know - it's because in Canada, only the criminals and the police carry handguns.
Walt Wawra, Kalamazoo, Mich.

[/l]

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Nose+Hill+Park+confrontation+makes+visitors+feel+unsafe/7050028/story.html#ixzz23O9r3aW7


And the replies to the story...

[...]Wawra said he and his wife were confronted in broad daylight on a paved trail by two men who asked "in a very aggressive tone" if the couple had "been to the Stampede yet?" "They approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner," he wrote, that the off-duty cop instinctively reached for where his sidearm would have been had he been south of the border.
"I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, 'Gentlemen, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye,'" he said. "I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort."

[...]

Subsequent to the furor, a tourism official said the two young men who encountered Wawra were simply giving out free passes to the Calgary Stampede rodeo.
AFP

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/just-kidding-dont-shoot-me-canadians-ridicule-unarmed-us-tourists-fears-20120813-243nt.html#ixzz23OA2TtuR

[Phillip V]

Americans should be allowed to carry their personal weapons in other countries.

[Neil]

Either this is fake or hillarious.  Americans can be pretty stupid, so I suppose it's within the bounds of what is possible.

[katmai]

Been to the Stampede yet? Sounds like a ghey comeon to me.

[Ed Anger]

I hear Bret the hit man Hart randomly attacks people in Canada.

[garbon]

Been to the Stampede yet? Sounds like a ghey comeon to me.

Yeah sounds suspiciously like "Been to the <insert blank>Saloon/Rawhide?"

[crazy canuck]

Either this is fake or hillarious.  Americans can be pretty stupid, so I suppose it's within the bounds of what is possible.

This has got to be fake.  Nobody can be that stupid.

[PRC]

It's real, it was the talk of the town last week, the letter he wrote was published in the Calgary Herald and generated a lot of comments about guns and the American culture of fear.

[CountDeMoney]

Sounds perfectly plausible.  Unfortunately.

[garbon]

Btw, I'd probably be concerned to if some strangers trying to hawk shit didn't walk away after they were pointedly ignored.

[Malthus]

Sounds too much like what a smug Canadian would invent to make fun of Americans. 

[Phillip V]

It's real, it was the talk of the town last week, the letter he wrote was published in the Calgary Herald and generated a lot of comments about guns and the American culture of fear.

American culture of SAVING THE WORLD.

[Phillip V]

Btw, I'd probably be concerned to if some strangers trying to hawk shit didn't walk away after they were pointedly ignored.

Stand Your Ground law should have been applied.

[DGuller]

I'm not claiming that shooting strangers on the street should be the default choice in unsolicited encounters, but surely people who try to approach strangers on the street to sell them something should be just a little cognizant about projecting a threatening image.

[alfred russel]

It's real, it was the talk of the town last week, the letter he wrote was published in the Calgary Herald and generated a lot of comments about guns and the American culture of fear.

So...is the discussion is moving in the direction that the American should have been able to defend himself and gun laws should be liberalized?