He will be labelled racist, bigoted, etc. by those social in-activists who have made a cottage industry of race relations. You can't get grant money if you solve a problem.Profile of a mayor shooting at wrong target |
How many times in the last four decades has the issue of guns come up?
Every time there's a nasty murder -- are there any nice ones? -- up goes the cry to ban handguns and/or increase penalties for handgun use.
Mayor David Miller is adept at exploiting issues to his political advantage. Handguns are no exception. His latest formula for dealing with gun violence is to ban (i.e., close) firing ranges in Toronto and cancel licences to gun clubs. He says legally owned guns may get stolen and used for violent crimes.
No one with intelligence above body temperature believes the mayor's proposal will have any effect in curbing gun crimes. The mayor himself likely doesn't believe it.
This isn't to imply the mayor doesn't care about gun violence -- of course he does. He just doesn't know what to do about it, so he does something -- anything, really, to show that he's aware.
When in doubt, do something and to hell with people who belong to gun clubs. They aren't that numerous anyway, and probably don't vote for him.
Looked at realistically, there's no foolproof -- or even effective -- way to prevent handguns coming into Toronto. But there are ways to discourage the use of guns.
Most sensible would be to have automatic, non-negotiable jail sentences on anyone carrying an unauthorized handgun.
Merely being in possession of a gun during a crime, or even if there is no crime, could entail prison.
This will not prevent gun crimes, but it should encourage those planning to commit crimes, to leave the gun at home.
It's unlikely to discourage gang rumbles, drive-by shootings, wedding party shootings and such. But it'd be a start.
Essential would be to forbid plea bargaining on gun offences.
A DETAILED STUDY
Far more useful than banning sport shooting ranges, or proclaiming meaningless gun-free zones in the centre of Toronto, would be to launch a detailed study into who, or what groups, are using guns for violence in Toronto.
Right now, and for some 30 years, police have been forbidden to "profile" those who are involved in specific types of crime. Not only wrong, this is just plain foolish.
How can a doctor devise a cure if he's not allowed to diagnose what the medical problem is? It's the same with police and crime. It reached absurd heights when 17 terror suspects were nabbed in Ontario, and the police spokesman insisted they were "residents from a variety of backgrounds." This implied they were indistinguishable from anyone else. This was goofy. Unmentioned was their shared Muslim orthodoxy.
An overwhelming proportion of those killed with guns in Toronto are black -- shot by other black youths. Should not the police "profile" who these shooters and victims are, and take steps to protect the whole black community rather than blame the violence on legal gun owners who might have their guns stolen?
Mayor Miller won't go down that path -- might be accused of racism when, in fact, not investigating every avenue is the very essence of racism. Timidity, if not outright cowardice.
WITNESSES RELUCTANT
The black community knows the origin of the shooting sprees that infect Toronto.
When shootings occur, witnesses are reluctant to come forward -- something the rest of the city and media deplore.
But revenge is a characteristic of the crimes.
How can we, as a society, expect the victims of shootings to speak up when we neither investigate nor want to know whom the culprits are, or the groups to which they belong? Those who speak up may well be the next victims.
No concern for Mayor Miller who fearlessly stands up to legal gun clubs.
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