| Presto | 08-08-2012 10:40 AM |
Off-duty cop from US sends stupid letter to the newspaper
Be careful when driving with Canadian plates in Kalamzoo, Michigan. This douchebag probably has a hard-on for pulling over Canucks, now.
His Letter: Quote:
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?"
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.
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Related Article: Quote:
Yes, Walt Wawra is a real person. No, the letter we published from him Tuesday, about the “confrontation” he and his wife had with two Calgarians in Nose Hill Park, was not a hoax. The fact that so many readers have written in, or posted comments online, wondering if it was for real, speaks volumes about the cultural differences between Canadians and Americans. It gives the lie to those who say that Canadians are no different than Americans.
Wawra, who lives in Kalamazoo, Mich., is a police officer. While on a recent visit to Calgary, he and his wife, Debbie, were approached by two young men on a pathway in Nose Hill Park, who asked the Wawras if they had been to the Stampede yet. When they asked the question a second time, Wawra moved between the men and his wife and told them he had no need to talk to them. He said they looked “bewildered.” The parties then went their separate ways.
In his letter, Wawra said it felt strange not to carry his off-duty handgun in Canada and added that he thanked the Lord they didn’t pull a weapon on him. No benefit of the doubt given the young men, no thought that they might have just been trying to be friendly.
He also complained about Canadian gun laws, saying that in Canada, only the police and criminals carry handguns. Yes, that’s true, and it’s probably one of the reasons when there’s a dispute over a parking space in Canada, nobody dies from bullet wounds as a result.
Wawra’s mindset is what America’s gun mania has produced. How paranoid and how very sad.
Wawra wrote that he speculated the men did not have good intentions. He claims the men spoke in an “aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner.” Menacing? A question about the Stampede is construed as a menace? Or, as someone commented on the Herald’s website: “... for asking if you had been to the Stampede? Since when is that grounds to be dead?” Another commenter wrote: “I can see why they were frightened. If you rearrange the letters in ‘been to Stampede yet?’ you get “a beset potted enemy’.”
Most likely, the men noticed something about the Wawras that indicated they were tourists, and were trying to make conversation. Maybe they themselves were enjoying the Stampede’s centennial celebration and wanted to let these tourists know that their visit to Calgary wouldn’t be complete without a day at the Stampede. The fact that the young men looked bewildered by Wawra’s response indicates that their intentions were indeed friendly ones and that they were quite puzzled at being rebuffed.
Wawra did not return my call requesting an interview Tuesday afternoon. Too bad. I would have liked to ask him why an American visitor to Calgary would treat a friendly encounter in a city park here as if it were a midnight stroll through a drug-dealer infested alley on the south side of Chicago. One can only stand open-mouthed at the knee-jerk mindset of suspicion, fear and loathing on the mean streets — which is so ingrained in Americans that they can’t leave it at home when they visit another country.
Americans argue that they need to carry guns, because having a concealed weapon makes them feel safe. Their thinking seems to be that at any given moment, they could be under attack from the very next person they meet on the street, and they’ll need to shoot in self-defence. Whereas, when you walk down a street in Canada, you don’t assume that you’re at risk of being suddenly assaulted or killed. You just see ordinary people going about their day and you give their motives no further thought.
Walt Wawra responds: I'm not deterred by negative reaction
And so, Americans, unaware of just how sick their handgun mentality is, continue to fight like crazy to prevent any kind of handgun-control legislation from being implemented. A 9 mm handgun, purchased legally, was the weapon of choice in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday when six people were killed and three more wounded by a white supremacist at a Sikh temple. One might argue that if the worshippers had carried guns, they could have killed the guy first. But sitting in a temple armed to the teeth while listening to a sermon about brotherhood and peace is ridiculous.
“Many would say I have no need to carry (a handgun) in Canada,” Wawra wrote. “Yet I have a unique perspective based on years of police experience. The perspective (is that) the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be allowed to protect himself if the need arises... My perspective proved true a few days ago for my wife and I.”
It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Wawra that the need didn’t arise in Calgary, and that if he’d been carrying a handgun, two people might now be dead because they asked him if he’d been to the Stampede.
As an American who is also a Canadian citizen, all I can say is, thank God I live in Canada.
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