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Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio -
"You don't speak for me."
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Yet another shooting in Toronto. In an effort to advance their cause, Miller and his cohorts in the MSM will most certainly attempt to take advantage of the situation by making the point that if a gun ban had been instituted that this latest shooting could have been prevented because apparently the suspect in question would know that to commit cold-blooded murder with his illegally-imported gun—which it most likely was—on Toronto streets would not merely be a violation of the Criminal Code, punishable by life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years, but would violate Toronto’s ban. The latter, Miller and friends feel, being a risk no murdering thug would ever think of taking.
In the sarcastic-laden words of Jerry Seinfeld: “Things make perfect sense to me now.”
I received the same form response from the office of the Mayor…so….I had to respond again:
Karen Duffy –
Thank you for the general response the Mayor’s office is sending out. Please allow me to rebute the majority of your response.
What the Mayor is doing by calling for a ban for private ownership ( as well as his sweeping call for a handgun ban ), is punishing law abiding citizens for the actions of others. As well, there are numerous statistics available that clearly show a ban has no effect on decreasing gun crime. One only has to look at Great Britain to see that handgun bans are ineffective. The CCOC already effectively “bans” handguns by making their usage for unlawful purposes illegal. Stating the Mayor has the support of the likes of the Premier adds zero credibility to his call given the record of this Premier.
I agree that the city must take steps to show they are serious about any agenda it may set, however the caveat is that the agenda makes sense. This one does not. Not only does data show that handgun bans are ineffective, they also show that knives are more of a threat than handguns…especially legally owned registered firearms. Data taken from various police agencies in Canada show that over 95% of all firearms recovered, have never been registered.
The Mayor may want to ensure the City is taking all available actions however he has cherry picked the easy ones. Fighting as hard as he has for this ban may impress the uneducated voters however there are many that see it for what it is. The Mayor may be able to say he has fought the good fight against gun violence but the truth is, he is going down a road that is ineffective.
While 8,105 victims of violent gun crime is tossed around, that number is about 1% of the number of people affected by violent crime overall. That would leave over 95% of victims being assaulted by other means. As for your statement that 1/3 of all guns were once registered, I would gladly entertain the official stats. In 2006, ALL guns collected by Toronto Police showed that less than 5% were registered. That is an official number.
The banning of private handguns will have no measurable effect in cutting off the supply of guns. Stats have shown that and to believe otherwise, is being naive.
If the addition of 450 police officers is part of the Mayor’s strategy, that does not go far enough. The office of the Mayor is well aware that the attrition rate of the Toronto Police is well beyond that and those 450 will just fill in what is already missing. Using the addition of officers as a selling point for the Mayor’s strategy is offensive when the truth is that is lacks substance. As for the other aspects of the Mayor’s strategy, they are not in his domain and quite frankly, will have absolutely no influence on those aspects.
Your closing is a typical argument. The flipside is if life sentences for possession of a firearm would save one life is it worth it? If evicting those found with firearms in social housing would save one life, is it worth it? If implementing the tough and successful approach Mayor Giuliani did would save one life, is it worth it? If banning panhandlers would save one life ( too late for Ross Hammond ) is it worth it?
The bottom line is the Mayor is taking the easy road that is politically expedient but useless. Taking the tough approach is not in the Mayor’s arsenal. It is pathetically symbolic.
Miller: Moron Moonbat Mayor.