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Yesterday, the Calgary Herald ran a letter by Wawra, a police officer from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he bemoaned the fact that he was not allowed to carry his handgun into the country with him on his recent trip to Calgary. 

According to Wawra, while he and his wife were strolling through Nose Hill Park during their recent trip up north, they were confronted by two young men who asked if they had gone to the Stampede. When Wawra and his wife didn't answer, the men asked again — Wawra then said that they had nothing to say to the men, and walked away as the friendly Calgarians watched them, bewildered.

Wawra decried the fact that he wasn't able to reach for his handgun during the confrontation. His letter made it clear that he would have felt safer if he were able to brandish his firearm instead of walking away politely.

Here's what I have to say to Walt Wawra: you are ridiculous.The men who approached you and asked if you had gone to the Stampede did so not because they wanted to harm you, but because they were friendly. In Canada, it's not abnormal to be cordial to the people that share the park with you and make conversation; it's especially normal to be asked about the Stampede while in Calgary during the Stampede. The bewildered look you got from the men wasn't because they were threatening, but because they were confused why you wouldn't just say "yes" or "no" and respond to their friendly banter.

If you had pulled out your weapon, Mr. Wawra, I guarantee the situation would have got worse, not better. If you had access to a gun and had brandished it in this situation, all the friendliness would have disappeared from the confrontation and instead be replaced by threat, fear, and confusion. 

Nothing good comes from fear: people make stupid mistakes, and those mistakes end with people getting hurt.Mr. Wawra — the reason we don't allow concealed handguns in our parks is to protect ourselves from people like you. The fact that your first instinct in an encounter, friendly or otherwise, was to reach for your weapon, shows that the people we have to fear most are not happy Stampede-goers, but overly-suspicious, gun-happy gun owners that think violence can act as security.

If you had your gun, Mr. Wawra, what was probably just a friendly encounter with two boisterous and happy well-wishers could have ended with the unfortunate and unnecessary loss of life. You may have felt unsafe without your gun here, but I feel safer knowing you don't have it.