12-09-2005, 05:53 PM
[black][size 4]Oh Canada![crazy] Looks like another gun ban lesson for our neighbors to the north. [/size][/black]
[black][size 4][/size][/black][black][size 4][/size][/black][black][size 4]Miller backs Liberal `total' gun ban[/size][/black] [black][size 4]Exceptions all but closed off in plan
1 million handguns now in Canada[/size][/black] [black][size 4]Dec. 9, 2005. 01:00 AM[/size][/black] [url "http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968332188774&ce=Columnist&colid=969907621570"]GRAHAM FRASER[/url] NATIONAL AFFAIRS WRITER
Taking aim at the two major sources of supply for handguns used in crime — the U.S. and private collections in Canada — Prime Minister Paul Martin has unveiled a campaign plan to severely restrict handgun ownership and beef up efforts to control the illegal flow of weapons.
Handgun ownership of almost every kind would be illegal under the proposed "total" ban, which Liberal sources say would go further than any previous attempts to take guns out of people's hands — whether criminals or simple collectors, whose guns are often the target of thieves.
Only police, security officers and a select few sport shooters would be allowed to own guns.
"Handguns kill people," Martin told supporters at Elmbank Community Centre in Rexdale, just down the road from the church where Amon Beckles was shot on Nov. 19. "That's why they exist. ... And they are taking too many Canadian lives."
Martin's plan was supported by Mayor David Miller and Attorney General Michael Bryant, who stood with Martin.
"I could not think of a more important announcement for the people of Toronto than the banning of handguns," Miller said. "Guns turn punks into killers."
However, skepticism of the plan's effectiveness was expressed by people ranging from gun lobbyists to a criminologist and community workers. Handguns have required licensing and registration in Canada since the 1930s, and ownership has been restricted to police, gun club members, collectors and the few people with permits to carry them for self-protection.
Exceptions and loopholes would be basically non-existent under the total prohibition. Collectors and existing owners would be forced to get rid of their weapons. Estimates put the number of handguns in Canada at about 1 million.
Martin's plan includes an amendment to the Criminal Code to invite provincial and territorial governments to participate in banning guns. The Criminal Code is a federal statute but the provinces enforce it.
The ban is the boldest and potentially most contentious piece in a five-part strategy, which Martin described as an effort that "will get handguns off our streets, it will toughen penalties for those who are convicted of gun crimes, it will choke off the supply of illegal weapons, and it will increase protection for communities, especially our major urban centres."
The $500 million effort includes boosts to gun crime enforcement and prevention, tougher penalties, community prevention efforts and a national "Gunstoppers Program" to reward people who help get illegal guns removed.
The Liberal plan began as a government program but turned into a party campaign platform when Parliament fell last month. It borrows heavily from work already under way largely to respond to the wave of gun violence seen this year in Toronto. Of the 75 homicides in the city this year, 50 have been committed with handguns.
Using Australia's handgun-ban experience as the model, especially in its attempts to work with provinces, the Liberals' approach adds extra emphasis to border measures because of proximity to the United States and the illegal flow of guns into Canada. It's estimated that half of the gun crimes committed in Toronto this year were carried out with illegally smuggled weapons from the U.S.
The number of gun specialists working as officers at the border would climb from the current 17 to 75 over the next five years.
Martin reportedly decided on the virtually no-exceptions handgun ban about six weeks ago, telling advisers that if handgun supply was the major problem in the gun-crime wave, then big steps had to be taken. "We're going to have to do something radical," he reportedly told advisers, and he's said to have spent the next few weeks trying to coax people into agreeing.
Bryant offered co-operation if this party platform turns into a government program.
"You can count Ontario in!" Bryant said enthusiastically, arguing that the National Rifle Association, the U.S. gun lobby, is creeping into Canada. "The right to bear handguns is not a Canadian value," he said."
Andrew King, pastor of the Toronto West Seventh Day Adventist Church where Beckles had attended the funeral for another murder victim, applauded the news. "Today the right message has been sent out. We need to get the guns off the street. We need to put the criminals in jail. And we need to give our young people hope."
Martin was surrounded by Toronto-area MPs when he made the announcement. But others in his caucus were skeptical.
"It's a declaration that the gun registry has been a failure," said Sarnia-Lambeth MP Roger Galloway. "Ten years after, the gun registry isn't working, and we're going to try something else. It's ad hoc-ery at its worst."
Tory Leader Stephen Harper endorsed the goal of getting rid of illegal guns, but blamed the Liberals for the growth in gun crime that has occurred.
Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action, the political arm of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, said the ban will "have absolutely no impact on crime. The people who will have their handguns confiscated are law-abiding."
Criminologist Tammy Landau, a professor at Ryerson University, called the proposed ban "a simplistic and uncreative solution," and said that most crimes are committed with illegal guns.
Mark DeZilva, who runs after-school programs in the Jane-Finch area, said the ban would do nothing to make his community safer. "Who's going to turn in their gun?" he asked. "We need to encourage kids by giving them hope, jobs, opportunity."
With files from Sean Gordon, Rob Ferguson, Isabel Teotonio and Gabe Gonda
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[black][size 4][/size][/black][black][size 4][/size][/black][black][size 4]Miller backs Liberal `total' gun ban[/size][/black] [black][size 4]Exceptions all but closed off in plan
1 million handguns now in Canada[/size][/black] [black][size 4]Dec. 9, 2005. 01:00 AM[/size][/black] [url "http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968332188774&ce=Columnist&colid=969907621570"]GRAHAM FRASER[/url] NATIONAL AFFAIRS WRITER
Taking aim at the two major sources of supply for handguns used in crime — the U.S. and private collections in Canada — Prime Minister Paul Martin has unveiled a campaign plan to severely restrict handgun ownership and beef up efforts to control the illegal flow of weapons.
Handgun ownership of almost every kind would be illegal under the proposed "total" ban, which Liberal sources say would go further than any previous attempts to take guns out of people's hands — whether criminals or simple collectors, whose guns are often the target of thieves.
Only police, security officers and a select few sport shooters would be allowed to own guns.
"Handguns kill people," Martin told supporters at Elmbank Community Centre in Rexdale, just down the road from the church where Amon Beckles was shot on Nov. 19. "That's why they exist. ... And they are taking too many Canadian lives."
Martin's plan was supported by Mayor David Miller and Attorney General Michael Bryant, who stood with Martin.
"I could not think of a more important announcement for the people of Toronto than the banning of handguns," Miller said. "Guns turn punks into killers."
However, skepticism of the plan's effectiveness was expressed by people ranging from gun lobbyists to a criminologist and community workers. Handguns have required licensing and registration in Canada since the 1930s, and ownership has been restricted to police, gun club members, collectors and the few people with permits to carry them for self-protection.
Exceptions and loopholes would be basically non-existent under the total prohibition. Collectors and existing owners would be forced to get rid of their weapons. Estimates put the number of handguns in Canada at about 1 million.
Martin's plan includes an amendment to the Criminal Code to invite provincial and territorial governments to participate in banning guns. The Criminal Code is a federal statute but the provinces enforce it.
The ban is the boldest and potentially most contentious piece in a five-part strategy, which Martin described as an effort that "will get handguns off our streets, it will toughen penalties for those who are convicted of gun crimes, it will choke off the supply of illegal weapons, and it will increase protection for communities, especially our major urban centres."
The $500 million effort includes boosts to gun crime enforcement and prevention, tougher penalties, community prevention efforts and a national "Gunstoppers Program" to reward people who help get illegal guns removed.
The Liberal plan began as a government program but turned into a party campaign platform when Parliament fell last month. It borrows heavily from work already under way largely to respond to the wave of gun violence seen this year in Toronto. Of the 75 homicides in the city this year, 50 have been committed with handguns.
Using Australia's handgun-ban experience as the model, especially in its attempts to work with provinces, the Liberals' approach adds extra emphasis to border measures because of proximity to the United States and the illegal flow of guns into Canada. It's estimated that half of the gun crimes committed in Toronto this year were carried out with illegally smuggled weapons from the U.S.
The number of gun specialists working as officers at the border would climb from the current 17 to 75 over the next five years.
Martin reportedly decided on the virtually no-exceptions handgun ban about six weeks ago, telling advisers that if handgun supply was the major problem in the gun-crime wave, then big steps had to be taken. "We're going to have to do something radical," he reportedly told advisers, and he's said to have spent the next few weeks trying to coax people into agreeing.
Bryant offered co-operation if this party platform turns into a government program.
"You can count Ontario in!" Bryant said enthusiastically, arguing that the National Rifle Association, the U.S. gun lobby, is creeping into Canada. "The right to bear handguns is not a Canadian value," he said."
Andrew King, pastor of the Toronto West Seventh Day Adventist Church where Beckles had attended the funeral for another murder victim, applauded the news. "Today the right message has been sent out. We need to get the guns off the street. We need to put the criminals in jail. And we need to give our young people hope."
Martin was surrounded by Toronto-area MPs when he made the announcement. But others in his caucus were skeptical.
"It's a declaration that the gun registry has been a failure," said Sarnia-Lambeth MP Roger Galloway. "Ten years after, the gun registry isn't working, and we're going to try something else. It's ad hoc-ery at its worst."
Tory Leader Stephen Harper endorsed the goal of getting rid of illegal guns, but blamed the Liberals for the growth in gun crime that has occurred.
Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action, the political arm of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, said the ban will "have absolutely no impact on crime. The people who will have their handguns confiscated are law-abiding."
Criminologist Tammy Landau, a professor at Ryerson University, called the proposed ban "a simplistic and uncreative solution," and said that most crimes are committed with illegal guns.
Mark DeZilva, who runs after-school programs in the Jane-Finch area, said the ban would do nothing to make his community safer. "Who's going to turn in their gun?" he asked. "We need to encourage kids by giving them hope, jobs, opportunity."
With files from Sean Gordon, Rob Ferguson, Isabel Teotonio and Gabe Gonda
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