PUBLICATION:        The Toronto Sun 

DATE:                         2003.12.07

EDITION:                    Final 

SECTION:                  Comment 

PAGE:                         C3 

BYLINE:                     LINDA WILLIAMSON 

COLUMN:                  Second Thoughts 

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VIOLENCE GROWS

GUN CONTROL HAS GIVEN US A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

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Fourteen years after the so-called Montreal Massacre - when a suicidal man armed with an assault rifle murdered 14 women at an engineering school - it's still not clear what, if anything, Canadians have learned from that dark Dec. 6.

The massacre galvanized two distinct movements across this country: one for stricter gun controls, the other to raise awareness of (male) violence against women.

But the further we get from that 1989 tragedy, the more convoluted seem the paths taken by those two movements.

Especially gun control. At first, it seemed like an obvious, urgent need. After all, one man managed to slay 14 and wound 13 (including four men) in minutes; to many, the natural reaction was to have his monstrous weapon be banned. Demanding a rifle registry was, for them, like establishing a memorial to the innocent young victims.

But today, all but the most ardent anti-gun zealots have to admit gun control has become little more than a monument to government waste. The long-gun registry that was supposed to protect us all from another crazed shooter (though it's unclear how) has resulted instead in a litany of galling bureaucratic screw-ups that in no way prevent crime.

As for violence against women, that movement quickly (and rather oddly) moved from concern about the random murders in Montreal to the far more common abuse and murder of women by their husbands, boyfriends and exes.

The good news is that such violence has ebbed somewhat in recent years. But horrific murders of women - and galling bureaucratic screw-ups - continue.

Just last week, the stabbing murder of Natalie Bobeika in Toronto provided a chilling example of both.

Natalie's ex-husband, Iouri, an immigrant from Moldova now charged with her murder, had a record of abusing her - he served two years in prison for sexual assault. Because of that crime, he was ordered deported in 2001, but he managed to stay in Canada by appealing the deportation order as high as he could, to the Federal Court of Canada.

Surely, the question must be asked: why is someone with such a record allowed to remain here at all, much less walk free on the street while filing endless appeals? Add Immigration Canada to the long list of government authorities that have failed to protect women from violent men they know.

As Statistics Canada's latest murder figures (2002) show, women are still still far more likely to be killed by a spouse or an ex than by a stranger - and are especially at risk after a breakup. Some 44% of all female homicide victims in 2002 were killed by lovers or exes. Only one in 14 was killed by a stranger.

(As an aside, spousal murders of both genders account for only slightly less than half of all domestic murders, which to me indicates we need a wider focus on who's killing whom in families and why.)

Meanwhile, the same StatsCan report found the proportion of murders committed with guns reached an all-time low in 2002. A victory for gun control? Hardly. Look closer and the numbers show two-thirds of gun murders involved handguns (which have been subject to gun control for generations), the vast majority of which were illegally obtained. In fact, since 1997, 72% of recovered murder guns were unregistered.

It's in this context that a study released two weeks ago by the Fraser Institute found post-Montreal-Massacre gun control to be a "farce." Author Gary Mauser says the key problem on that Dec. 6 was slow police response, and "the coroner's office stated that the type of weapon used was not a significant factor in the murders." He strongly disputes the feds' official line that new gun laws since then have helped curb crime:

"The homicide rate has been falling as fast or faster in the United States, where during the same time frame, more than 25 states have introduced less restrictive firearms laws."  It's important to look at trends in all violent crime, not just gun crime, he adds.

"Over the past decade, the rate of violent crime in Canada has increased while in the U.S. the violent crime rate has plummeted. The homicide rate is dropping faster in the U.S. than in Canada."

Mauser's views on gun control are obviously strong, but his observations ring true. Especially his comment: "The only winner in this drama is bureaucracy. The rest of us lose liberty as well as safety."

Not a happy thought after 14 years of wrestling with the demons of Dec. 6.