In remote communities, and communities along the Alaska Highway, many families rely on hunting to provide meat for the winter. This is why they own hunting rifles, or shotguns, and they know how to use them. These are not handguns or automatic weapons, but tools to provide food for families. Children grow up learning to hunt with their dads and moms.
There is nothing new about this, and it's not a sign of moral degeneracy. Communities from Vancouver island to Newfoundland have always found food on the land. Deer and moose hunting is not something most city dwellers do, but it is done outside of the urban corridor.
Food is very expensive in the north. There is a movement to re-learn traditional hunting and gathering for land food in the northern First Nations communities. I've even read about greenhouses for school children to grow food in the summer. People who have extra food can contribute it to community freezers for those in need. Further north, communities store all their meat in communal meat lockers.
