LILLEY: Gun bans won’t work, let’s deal with the real issues
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From Toronto Mayor John Tory to the editorial board of the Globe and Mail, the Ontario NDP and more — there are calls for one simple thing that will keep us safe from future gun crime in Canada: Banning handguns.
“I remain firmly of the belief that a handgun ban will help us address the gun violence we are experiencing in our city and the surrounding region,” Mayor Tory said on Twitter.
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Well, that is all well and good, but the gun crime happening in Toronto and across Canada is being carried out by those who don’t care about such bans.
It is amazing to me that some think that banning handguns will somehow make criminals suddenly jump up and take notice.
Those carrying illegal handguns are already in violation of about a half-dozen criminal code offences, including illegal possession of a firearm, illegal transportation of a firearm and more.
Yet suddenly, these criminal code violations —which can lead to multi-year prison sentences — will prompt criminals to drop their illegal guns if we add a ban on top of everything.
It isn’t realistic.
That didn’t stop the Globe and Mail from opining on the issue in an editorial earlier this week.
“Canada has to reduce the availability of the type of gun most commonly used in urban shootings: the handgun,” the Globe said.
“A ban on handgun and ammo sales in urban areas is a part of the solution … we have to do everything we can to tackle gun violence,” Ontario NDP deputy leader Sarah Singh said in a statement.
That would be great, and maybe might even work if the source of handguns used by Canada’s criminals weren’t smuggled into the country from the United States.
We share the longest undefended border in the world with the largest gun market in the world, America..
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It doesn’t matter what John Tory thinks, what the NDP thinks or the Globe editorial board thinks — banning handguns simply will not work.
So far, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is not ready to change his mind on the issue.
“We don’t believe it’s an effective way to combat guns and gangs,“ said Ford press secretary Ivana Yelich.
And with that, Ford is right.
What we need is greater emphasis on stopping the guns at the border — something I’m happy to say the Trudeau government has spent money on.
We need to make sure local police across the country have the resources to tackle the issue of smuggled guns, so fewer American guns end up on our streets.
Banning handguns will only take them away from law-abiding citizens and leave them in the hands of people that won’t heed to this ban, or any other law.
If we are going to deal with gun crime — let’s deal with the real issues.
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