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Readers support defending property with firearms

Advocate poll on right to defend property got a huge response with more than 13,600 weighing in
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Home owners have the right to defend themselves.

And they have a right to use a gun to do it, say Red Deer Advocate readers.

Advocate readers who responded to our latest poll voted massively in favour — almost 96 per cent — to the question: “Should homeowners have the right to use firearms while defending their property?”

Only 2.8 per cent voted no, and less than one per cent — 0.96 per cent — said no one should have firearms. Another 0.65 per cent agreed property owners only had the right to defend their property with a taser.

The question was prompted by the not-guilty verdict handed down last month to Saskachewan farmer, Gerald Stanley, who shot and killed 22-year-old Colton Boushie, who had driven onto his property in an SUV with four others from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in August 2016.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, which is an agency of the federal government, will review how the Battleford RCMP detachment dealt with the Boushie investigation.

It was an issue that clearly struck a chord with readers. More than 13,600 voted on the Advocate’s online poll and dozens and dozens commented.

A sampling of some of the comments: