Back when Muskoka Outdoors was in it’s infancy – I made a short video blog questioning the ‘point’ of a handgun ban. It has also been on YouTube for some time, but I suspect some of my recent blog and twitter followers may enjoy this video. Agree or Disagree – Here it is:

So, Mayor Miller got his way with his Executive’s Handgun Ban. At least, so says the Soldiers of Change website (and anti-handgun website). An email quoted on the site said that the bill passed by an amazing 39 (for) 3 (against).

I ‘caught’ up with some organized crime and city gang members and got their take on the situation. One of them said the following,

“It was touchy there for a short time when we heard about the mayor’s move to tackle gun crime. We had to send requests out to our illegal gun importers, across the border, to send over more guns to the city. There is less paperwork with illegal guns. They were selling like mad. Things have calmed down now that City’s Executive committee have passed their solution to gun crime. We thought they would come up with something that would actually impact our illegal gun use. You know, things like: more police, tougher gun sentences, and improved border security and detection methods. Instead, this measure makes it tougher for legal gun owners to get guns. This is great for us! The police are looking elsewhere for legal guns we hardly get access to.”

One armed bank robber joked that,

“I kept waiting for the news for the plan to go forward so I would know where to drop off my guns. After all, following Canadian Law is something I always do.”

Ok. So, the above was not a real interview. I was trying to illustrate a point.

Good job, Mr. Mayor. Toronto’s criminals and gang members are scared spitless!

Mayor Miller unleashes some more ‘tough’ talk on a proposed handgun ban. He would like to ban the use of gun clubs and related industries from inside city limits. His thoughts also include making it illegal to sell ammunition in the city. The Toronto Star reports that Mayor Miller said,

“It’s handguns that are so easily accessible to criminals, and it’s handguns that so often kill people on the streets on Toronto. It’s about a value. Do we as a society value safety, or do we value a hobby that creates danger? And nobody can deny that that hobby directly results in people being shot and killed on the streets of our city. Those are the facts. And they’re provable again and again and again.” Entire Article Here

So, the Toronto mayor is ’suggesting’ that the weapons used in the the gun crime in his city, come from legal gun owners and the two gun clubs that operate in Toronto. I guess, criminals will cease using their handguns when this proposed ban is in place because Toronto Politicians have ‘nailed’ the source of these guns. The mayor seems to be forgetting the fact that most of Canada’s illegals guns come from the U.S.

Two sources I found with percentages (regarding smuggled guns) were the following:

1. Toronto Handgun Factsheet (many stats here, but I found this fact sheet to make huge leaps and conclusions from those stats). This sheet indicates that smuggled U.S. guns account for 66% of the illegal firearms in Toronto.

2. A Public Saftey Canada Webpage – indicates that the figure for smuggled guns to Canada is at 93%

The first report above indicates that 1200 Canadians are killed by guns each year. In the interest of public saftey, I wonder if Mayor Miller will ban the use of alcohol in homes, stores, and clubs? A National Post article puts the death toll, from drunk Canadians in vehicles, at 1500 people. It seems a ban on drunk driving has no impact on keeping idiots from using their ‘good time’ hobby as a means of killing Canadians.

The Toronto Star published an article today sharing that Toronto’s Mayor, David Miller, has sent notice to Ottawa to implement a total handgun ban. The article said,

“The Government of Canada must take action to address gun violence and to assure Canadians that individuals and families are safe and our communities secure,” Miller writes in his letter to Harper. “In addition to a domestic handgun ban, the federal government must assume the leadership needed to stop the flow of foreign handguns into the country.” Entire Article Here

So, let me get this straight.

Are criminals, terrorists, gang members, bank robbers, and school shooters going to line up at our local police stations and turn over their ILLEGAL handguns?!

Will the black market suddenly stop selling their ILLEGAL guns because we have a handgun ban in place?

No. That would be stupid to assume that. They have already violated the restrictive handgun laws that are already in place!

Your ‘ban’ will accomplish nothing.

This letter to the Government is an attempt, by the Mayor, to show, his voters, that he is doing something.

Imagine if you will, Mr. Mayor, that you are being held-up by a gang member for your wallet. Which of the following replies has more impact on the criminal using the handgun that did not come from a legal source?

“You know we have a handgun ban in Canada…right?

or

“I’d love to give you my wallet, but the officer behind you wants you to drop your gun and hit the ground.”

Enforce the guns laws we already have in place. Put funds towards improving border security and detection methods. Budget more police presence.

Last year I made a short ‘video’ about this very concept. Click here to read that post.

No one likes to see anyone get killed. The recent shooting of a Yonge St. bystander is no exception. The gun used in the crime happened to be registered to the person who did the slaying. This is something that happens rarely as the problem behind gun crime are the criminals and gang members who use illegal guns. The problem is not caused by those of us who legally use registered guns.

Criminals are not deterred by a gun registries. They don’t care.

They won’t care about a call for a handgun ban by Ontario’s Premier and Toronto’s Mayor. In a Toronto Star article, McGuinty says,

“We have a shared responsibility, both Mayor Miller, myself and Prime Minister Harper and Canadians generally, to ask ourselves what more we might do to reduce the incidence of gun violence on our streets,” McGuinty said yesterday at Union Station.

I would like to remind Mr. McGuinty that the gun violence on the street is caused by gangs and criminals, not by the very small percentage of registered handgun owners. A gun ban would only target a small percentage of guns in Canada.

All the law abiding citizens have already registered them.

A gun registry was already supposed to reduce gun crime and protect citizens. Remember, we wasted close to 2 billion dollars on that. It did not help on Young Street.Think of the amount of police officers that money could have hired. A previous post I wrote suggests that would have been 19, 607 more officers.

Criminals would feel that.

I am positive the next step would be for a ban on all firearms. Again, the criminals would care less and that would leave 2 factions with guns. The Government and criminals.

That’s a bad mix. Especially, when you would have to wait for a 911 directed officer to come to your rural home and counter the gun toting criminal holding you up in your room.

I will end this post with another reference to a handgun ban video I did. I know I have used it before…but it fits so well.

This great article compares the number of gun deaths in Canada with the number of boat related deaths in Canada.

If the stats are legit (there is no reason to suggest they are not), I wonder if we could have used the 2 billion dollars wasted on our gun registry to prevent these deaths? Continue Reading