Assuming those you've seen were actually ones that were engaging in violence and not simply your harmless garden-variety crazy, how does that number actually compare with the number of people who you see every day who you don't even notice because they're not violent? Cognitive biases are interesting things, and one that people commonly fall prey to is overestimating the occurrence of rare events because those events stick out in our minds while the far, far more common everyday occurrences do not. The prevalence of mass media only contributes to this perception bias as rare events are what are newsworthy, but as a result people only see news of these rare events and thus overestimate the frequency with which they're actually occurring. The picture people end up developing from all of this is of a world with dangers around every corner and thus a need to respond to every report of a potential threat like it's an actual threat because everyone knows how common these dangers are, right? When in reality it's tough to get much further from the truth.

Damn it, those sets of LEGO pieces are too expensive, and I really don't want to order them separately myself...

We had a few full-scale shootouts against cops in this area in the past year. The danger is very common and very prevalent, I just happen to stay away from the spots where these activities might happen. I still think SWAT is overkill unless the guy is holding the gun and pointing it at people, from what we can read he wasn't threatening anyone or anything and apparently the neighboring building is full of spies or extremely nosey neighbors for them to see that and call it in. Just a huge screw-up and we can make fun of it because it's Canada.

'Time to get angsty on a adrenaline rage! Swat 5. Now you can beat on grannies to death and break civilian skulls. Rated M for mature."

On the topic of LEGO guns. Check out this youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Streaty121

So... you guys missed that dude who held a woman hostage IN FRONT of a bunch of cops armed with a Sega Master System Pistol (Yes, that one from Zillion) here in Brasil?
That one was epic. XD There were pictures of it around the internet, if you look around you'll find them.

That, I want a video showing this.

Okay, maybe I am missing something, but I don't see the big deal. Why did the police even show up to a complaint of seeing a gun in the first place?
I had a loaded gun in my office for years when I used to work late alone. I even showed it to a few folks (clients included, if they were into guns). Nobody seemed to care. I was licensed to carry a fire-arm (the so-called concealed carry license), so no harm, no foul.
Maybe the laws are different in Canada. Or, perhaps I am just biased because I live in the Southern US (where guns are not just a right, they are a fact of life). However, I just don't even see why the cops bothered to respond at all. Did the guy seem aggravated through the window or something? If it is just a gun sitting on a desk, I would ask them to get a grip.

Simple - The call was a man in an office with a gun. There's absolutely no reason not to respond. That's textbook active shooter. I'm still not sure why this is even news. Police get unfounded calls all the time. Obviously they had some info at the scene to warrant a call out. Debrief had to be hilarious though.

I still don't see the big deal. I am not trying to be difficult or obtuse, but I just don't get it. I have been on the phone with clients, and been cleaning my gun on my office desk before. This is a major corporate office, mind you (Morgan Stanley, in case you wondered). I was on the ground floor, and had a huge window, I am SURE people saw me with the gun. No cops ever came to give me a hard time.
Why? The reason is simple. At least simple to me. I didn't look like I was going to shoot anyone. That is why I asked if the man looked aggravated or something. The news report says he was on a conference call... was he yelling at the other people or something? Was he waving the gun around, while he was on the call?
If it is just a gun laying on a desk, I don't see the problem. It is not as if a gun will get up and shoot itself, for goodness sakes. Unless the man himself seemed like a threat, I think this was a waste of time and money. Would they have made the same call had it been a sword, or a billy club? They are all just weapons.
I think people get hyper scared of guns because they have never held one, much less been trained with one. Thus, folks tend to overreact when seeing a gun. Sure, guns kill people, so can a great many other objects (whether expressly designed for it or not). Just owning a gun and transporting it legally does NOT constitute a threat on its own; just having a gun visible does not warrant a SWAT team unless there are other circumstances involved.
All I know is that if people were hassled for owning and carrying a gun legally in my neck of the woods, there would be a great many unhappy people. I think it would go directly to a Circuit Court, pretty much. Thank goodness for that, too.

Careful now, you're sounding way too sensible there. We can't have people arguing against the climate of fear that's been developed. ;)

Guns don't belong in the workplace. There's no reason for me to think that someone who is normally sensible isn't going to have a frustrating call from his wife or work colleague and go nuts. People make mistakes, sometimes violent ones, and you can't exactly trust anyone's intuition on who would shoot up a place and who wouldn't. Swords and clubs don't belong in the workplace either. Having weapons around is a great reason to be hassled because nobody who sees a weapon wants to be hurt by it. Some toys are better left at home.

I see your point: why even put yourself int he position of causing the trouble in the first place? There is such thing as responsible gun ownership, however. It is impossible to guard against nut-jobs; they are going to cause trouble no matter what laws are passed. Common household products can make a bomb, for instance. In terms of crimes of passion, I have seen some heavy damage done by a common clay brick.
Nonetheless, my point is that unless it was illegal for that man to own and carry a gun in the office (or went against a known office policy), there was ZERO reason for cops to get involved. If there is no crime, there is no need for law enforcement. Or are we going to start arresting people just because they might, potentially break the law? If enough people see a problem with it, they should make a law against it, THEN I am fine with the cops getting involved.

lol
funny out of context

So before the person who called it in did so they should have...what...called over to see if he was licensed to own/carry a weapon, and then checked with the office building policy on firearms?
It's called prevention. Someone saw what looked like a person waving a gun around in an office building. The cops responded.