.....but I can understand you not hearing the message.At the same time though I would like to correct The Star's editorial board when they say; "Put simply, municipalities – including Canada's largest city – lack the power to make meaningful regulatory change." Back when Taliban Jack was a city councilor he and his left wing cohorts declared Toronto a "Nuclear Free Zone" and to give credit where credit is due no nuclear bombs have been dropped on Toronto.
Toronto officials have misfired with a well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed plan to reduce gun violence. Unfortunately, rather than making a difference on the street, the strategy going to the city's executive committee next week is likely to do nothing but inconvenience target shooters, including at least one Olympic contender.
Put simply, municipalities – including Canada's largest city – lack the power to make meaningful regulatory change that would reduce the number of handguns threatening society.
That hasn't stopped Toronto officials from trying. A staff report recommends invoking land-use rules to block any new effort to manufacture, assemble, warehouse or discharge firearms within the city. The military and police would be exempt, but the measure would effectively ban new firing ranges and gun-making businesses.
Also recommended is the closing of two existing shooting ranges on city property: one at Union Station and the other at the Don Montgomery Community Centre in Scarborough. This has riled recreational shooters, including Avianna Chao, a Canadian Olympic pistol shooter who is to compete in the Beijing Games this summer.
They have good reason to complain, as the city's plan would have virtually no impact on the number of handguns available to criminal gangs and other thugs.
There are several reasons. First, much of the firing at shooting ranges is done with rifles, not handguns. And Chao makes a convincing case that the specialized, single-shot pistols used in elite competition are of limited use to criminals. Finally, closing shooting ranges and banning the creation of new ones wouldn't take a pistol out of anyone's hands. That's because the city cannot force legal gun owners to surrender their weapons.
Despite those drawbacks, Mayor David Miller, citing the bloody toll of death and injury caused by handguns in the city, has strongly defended the proposed firing range shutdowns.
Miller's concern over handgun violence is understandable. Just this week, two teenagers were slain in separate Scarborough shootings. In light of such tragedy, Miller's plan to ease the violence would be well worth supporting – if it worked. Sadly, what's proposed is unlikely to prevent even one person from being shot.
A nationwide ban would be far more effective in keeping pistols from criminals by draining the pool of legal handguns available for them to steal. There are currently about 215,000 legally registered handguns in Ontario, providing a ready arsenal for criminals to tap. There is no indication that the city's plan would, in any way, shrink that supply. Indeed, it appears to do little more than unfairly target a subgroup of licensed gun owners: those who use recreational firing ranges.
Toronto's impotence in this area underscores the need for strong federal action. Ottawa should tighten its border surveillance to cut the flow of pistols into this country from abroad. And it should introduce a nationwide ban on handguns, with room for a narrow exemption for elite competitive shooters like Chao.
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