Kids Are Not Being Murdered In Stephen Harper's Neighborhood

They are being murdered in David Miller's and Dalton McGinty's neighborhood and no matter how they look for scapegoats the blood is on their hands.......both of you control the two major components of the problem; the police and the courts.

Blowing smoke on gun crime In calling for a handgun ban, again, David Miller and Michael Bryant aren't doing their jobs

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

Memo to Mayor David Miller and Attorney-General Michael Bryant.

If the best you can do in the wake of another fatal shooting of an innocent child -- part of a weekend of deadly gun violence in Toronto -- is to call for a federal handgun ban, again, do us all a favour.

Save your breath and our time, because we've heard it all before.

Do you think people don't know what a predictable attempt at misdirection this is?

Do you think they don't realize that the first thing politicians do when faced with a crisis is to blame another level of government -- in this case, Ottawa?

The feds -- both previous Liberal and Conservative governments -- have plenty to answer for when it comes to our lax criminal justice system.

But if you're going to contribute meaningfully to fighting gang and gun violence in Toronto, we don't need to hear, again, what you two think the feds should do.

We heard it from you during the 2006 federal election when another child, Jane Creba, 15, was gunned down while shopping with her family on Boxing Day on Yonge St. We don't need to hear it again now that Ephraim Brown, 11, has been murdered because he, too, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We get it. Unlike federal Conservative politicians, Bryant, a provincial Liberal, and Miller, a municipal mayor who used to be an NDPer, think a handgun ban will reduce gun crime.

Fine. Point made. Move on. Stop telling us what the feds should do. Tell us what you're doing.

For Miller, this means ending the fear-mongering "apres moi, le deluge" rhetoric he's been indulging in ever since he couldn't get his two pet tax hikes approved by city council.

Stop your temper tantrum, mayor. Start explaining how you will lead us against this scourge, which has left three more people dead from gunfire compared to this time in 2005, the year of Toronto's infamous "summer of the gun."

HYSTERICAL RANTING

Calling for a handgun ban isn't going to make people forget that last week you were talking about cutting the police budget as part of your hysterical ranting about all the terrible things that will happen if we don't do things your way when it comes to raising taxes.

C'mon. Calm down. Focus. The last time we were faced with gang and gun mayhem you and council -- even if you had to be dragged into it -- did the right thing by hiring 250 more cops and redeploying 200 more officers onto our streets.

That added manpower -- and subsequent gang busts -- worked in reducing gun violence. You need to sit down with Police Chief Bill Blair and discuss whether the police have adequate resources to do the job now.

Was last weekend's mayhem a tragic but random blip from the trend showing gun violence has been dropping since 2005, or is this the start of a renewed escalation of gang warfare?

That's what you have to decide. That's what we pay you for. We don't pay you to run around like Chicken Little when you don't get your way.

You control the police budget and the political support the police receive in doing their job. That's your job. Do it. If you need more of our hard-earned tax money for the police budget (or any budget) make your case to us -- rationally.

As for Bryant, stop your pointless calls, in the middle of a provincial election campaign, for a handgun ban. Start dealing with the issues you control, such as providing municipalities with adequate policing.

CABINET PRESSURE?

To your credit, in part, the province did free up some money for this following the summer of the gun.

But how hard have you been fighting since then at the cabinet table to ensure that Toronto and other cities have enough resources to fight this scourge? Have you made it clear to Crowns that plea bargains and easy bail are unacceptable for these crimes? Have you provided them with the resources to be able to make a convincing argument for this before judges?

Finally, if the be-all and end-all for Bryant and Miller on gun crime really is a federal ban on handguns, let them run for a seat in the House of Commons -- not Queen's Park and City Hall.

In other words, put up or shut up.