It’s a complicated issue that is how BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson is reacting to questions about gun control in the wake of shootings in Salmon Arm and Penticton on Sunday and Monday that killed 5 people.

Andrew Wilkinson was asked if it was time to put gun control back on the table after the shootings rocked the two communities.

“This is such a big and complicated issue that I think we all have that feeling that when these extremely violent acts make it into the news like the New Zealand horror show that this perhaps triggers things in people who otherwise wouldn’t be so inclined. Canada has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world but like Switzerland it is a very low rate of gun violence.”

Should mental health be considered in gun ownership?

“From what I know that is actually a very crude kind of screen because a lot of these mental health issues do not manifest until the first violent outburst. So you think are you actually going to get a lot of false positives and false negatives when you are sorting out the screen and you actually spend a whole lot of time accomplishing nothing.”

Wilkinson says times have changed and wonders if media coverage of other gun massacres have inspired others to do something crazy.

“There are a lot of guns out there. I grew up in a family with four rifles but it never seemed to cross anybody’s mind to do anything inappropriate with them. It is very difficult to come up with a magic solution to these things. I think it is obviously, like you were saying, something you keep a very close eye on because we all worry that there might be individuals out there in our society who might do things that are totally wrong because they have seen something on TV from far away.”

Wilkinson says any debate around gun violence or gun control should be approached thoughtfully and carefully.