Canadian laws aren’t American ones. I get that.

I also recognize that while it’s hard to tell the difference between someone from Canada and the United States, the nations are distinctly different.

But it’s funny how their gun grabbers sound an awful lot like ours.

Take the current gun control debate up that way. A recent headline looks almost like it could have been published in the New York Times, what with a headline like “Gun control advocates say Canadians must choose between hobbies and children’s lives.”

An umbrella group of gun-control advocates says any exceptions to the federal handgun freeze should be very narrowly defined.

Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control told the House of Commons public safety committee today it is important that exemptions do not become the rule.

The Liberal government has enacted a regulatory freeze on importing, buying, selling or otherwise transferring handguns, in order to help stem firearm-related violence — measures that will be reinforced through legislation.

…

Cukier told MPs the exemptions should be limited to Olympic-level athletes, with a requirement that such shooters show they are entitled to use a handgun.

“I really think that we have to make a choice between hobbies and our children’s lives. I see it that starkly. And so I think any exemptions that are provided need to be very narrowly defined,” she said.

First, that “choice” is a false dichotomy. There aren’t just two choices here, no matter how Cukier wants to frame it.

Of course, she also thinks handguns should just be for Olympic-level athletes without understanding that without more common handgun ownership, you won’t have Olympic-level athletes. Good shooters don’t just appear out of the blue. They have to work at it.

Back to this idea that it’s one’s hobbies or the lives of kids, this is the kind of emotional blackmail anti-gun grabbers love to use. If you refuse to comply, you’re saying your pastime is more important than kids. That’s a position few would willingly take.

Yet people have a right to defend themselves, even in Canadian law. Those laws are different than here, mind you, but they still exist.

By denying people handguns, the Canadian government is basically telling people they have no choice but to allow themselves to be murdered if they’re cornered by a potential killer. That’s not someone’s hobby on the table here, but their life.

That also includes protecting one’s kids in far too many cases.

Further, let’s also remember that it’s not law-abiding citizens who are a risk to Canadian children. While some disagree that most of the guns are coming from smuggled weapons–which is an interesting note of disagreement with American gun grabbers, who blame us for all the world’s woes–few can show any evidence that these handguns were lawfully purchased, even up that way.

So if it’s really about the lives of children, why not try to undermine the systems that lead people toward a criminal life in the first place? That would also mean they won’t stab someone, beat someone to death, or kill them in any other way without restricting the people who aren’t going to hurt a soul.

Canadian gun grabbers are just as myopic and cruel as the American variety. Their arguments aren’t that much different despite living in very different nations.

Something to keep in mind.