PUBLICATION:
The
DATE:
2004.12.16
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
31
ILLUSTRATION:
photo
of JULIAN FANTINO Alarmed at use of weapons
BYLINE:
BOB MACDONALD
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TAKE
THE EDGE OFF PUNKS
BOB
MACDONALD ARGUES FOR 10-YEAR JAIL TERMS FOR PEOPLE WHO USE WEAPONS FOR CRIME
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ANYONE
COMMITTING a crime with a deadly weapon should receive a mandatory 10-year
sentence. That includes not only guns, but such lethal weapons as knives, tire
irons, martial arts devices, baseball bats, etc.
Also,
In
other words, prisons should not be a rest home where inmates sit around,
unshaven, unkempt, watching TV and playing video games, while pushing drugs,
bodybuilding, playing sports, getting tattooed and involved in prison crime.
And
for young offenders -- under 18 as defined by present Canadian law -- there
should be compulsory boot camps. They could be patterned on the then-voluntary
boot camps
If
these proposals sound drastic, they are. But increasingly desperate times
require drastic measures. The alternative is to keep muttering "tut-tut"
while witnessing the continuing buildup of a violence-prone society.
DANGEROUS
STREETS
If
you don't believe our society is becoming increasingly violent, just look at
such recent outrages as the rash of stabbing deaths of teenagers that took place
in the
Included
was the swarming, stabbing death of a 15-year-old boy who tried to stop the
assault of a pregnant teenager. Another was the stabbing murder of a promising
18-year-old who tried to shoo away a group of teenagers crashing the party of
his younger brother while their parents were away.
"Years
ago, at most it would have been a punchup ... Now we seem to be intent on
pulling out a knife and plunging it into the heart of a young person,"
observed Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino this week.
In
other words, while the federal Liberal government has been blowing more than $1
billion on a gun registry plan that has proved almost useless, violent-prone
people have been turning to knives as a weapon of choice.
And
while the feds have brought in kid-glove laws to deal with youth crime, the
youngsters are becoming more dangerous as they arm themselves with knives. Some
call it self-defence; others say it's to impress people about how tough and
dangerous they are.
In
the past, Fantino and other law enforcement leaders have warned about the soft,
social-worker approach that our liberal governments have created in our laws.
They
eliminated capital punishment 30 years ago. But such things as the Youth
Criminal Justice Act permits a sentence of only 10 years for murder if the
killer is under 18. But, it restricts actual time in custody to only six years.
Also,
the murderer's name must not be revealed. And even the name of the poor victim
must remain anonymous.
"Street
gangs are hardened criminals who know the youth crime law and how to beat it
inside out," Fantino said.
"We
are losing an entire generation of people," he warned.
Contributing
is our technological age in which TV, movies and graphic video games are loaded
with violence, shootings, stabbings, rape, and just about any other piece of
savagery that the
Too
many video-bred children are growing up with an indifference to violence and a
belief that life is cheap. To them, "losers" are expected to get up
after "the kill" and walk away.
Since
nothing else is working, then let's scare the hell out of some of these budding
punks about using weapons to commit crimes. At least 10 years to think about it
-- plus work camps and boot camps to thoroughly convince a prisoner that there
is nothing glamorous about doing hard time.
If
you think that's too drastic, then stick with the politicians, judges and
social-worker laws that blame everyone and everything except the perpetrator.
Oh, and
perhaps think of carrying your own knife -- strictly for self-defence, of
course.