PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE:
2004.01.03
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Editorial/Opinion
PAGE:
14
COLUMN:
Editorial
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LET'S
MAKE SHOOTERS THE TARGET
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This
week's tale of two shootings painfully illustrates why our so-called gun control
laws are doing nothing to curb gun crime. Consider:
In
Toronto, on New Year's Eve, a 25-year-old man was shot several times in the
stomach; the second such shooting on the same Etobicoke street in five days.
Police
believe the case may be related to an earlier execution-style murder of a
26-year-old known gang member who was recently acquitted in another murder. It's
just the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of shootings involving gangs
and illegal handguns. Most of the victims have been "known to police,"
but the shooters don't care if they catch innocents in their crossfire. (In
another case, at a New Year's dance at Weston Rd. and Sheppard Ave., a
16-year-old girl was shot twice in the back when two other partygoers got into
an argument.)
Meanwhile,
in quiet Acton, early on New Year's Eve afternoon, 15-year-old Raymond Garry
Getty was tragically shot dead with a rifle in his own home, when two other boys
were visiting. A 17-year-old from Brampton is now charged with second-degree
murder.
The
shooting has left the neighbourhood, where Getty was well-known as an avid
hockey player and all-round "great kid," understandably stunned, and
raised serious questions about the gun - i.e., whether or not it was legally
registered and stored, as required by the Firearms Act. (Police said the gun was
pointed and went off, but gave few other details.)
Those
questions are for police and prosecutors to answer, and for the courts to deal
with. But this much is clear right now:
The
Firearms Act, including its wasteful $1-billion registry, didn't prevent the
Acton tragedy. Perhaps nothing could have. Nor has it done a thing to prevent
the growing gun violence in Toronto, which was up 35% in 2003. (Handguns have
been subject to registration and strict controls since the 1930s - yet stolen,
smuggled ones have become commonplace on our streets.)
It
couldn't be more obvious that what we really are tougher restrictions, not on
guns, but on on those who use them for criminal purposes. Scrap the absurdity of
the gun registry and direct the resources to law enforcement. Steeply increase
penalties for possession of illegal guns and - especially - their use in crimes.
We're talking five, 10 years, minimum, no plea-bargains.
It's
a new year, and time to admit the old thinking on gun control has made us no
safer. How many more lives - and how much more money - are we and our
governments willing to lose?
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NEWS
RELEASE - November 5, 2003
DOMESTIC
HOMICIDES CONTINUE TO RISE DESPITE BILLION-DOLLAR GUN REGISTRY
“How
many lives could have been saved if the Liberals had spent this money addressing
the
root causes of domestic violence?” asked Breitkreuz
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns99.htm
NEWS
RELEASE - October 16, 2003
STATS
CAN HOMICIDE REPORT SHOWS RIGHT AND WRONG TARGET FOR SAVING LIVES
“The
number of people murdered went up so their billion-dollar gun registry didn’t
save any lives.”
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns95.htm