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Mayor David Miller Surrenders Toronto to Criminals and Gangs.
by Blair Hagen, National President
National Firearms Association Media Release
Tuesday, May 28th, 2008
Mayor David Miller Surrenders Toronto to Criminals and Gangs.
Mayor David Miller has made it clear that he intends to ban all lawful firearms activities within the limits of Greater Toronto.
There was nothing in the announcement from the Mayor of Toronto about getting tough on recidivist criminals, targeting gangs, or pursuing a zero tolerance policy against lawlessness and violence of all kinds.
Miller's threat is to close down licensed firearms dealers, certified gun clubs and ranges, and to harass and eliminate licensed firearms owners with registered firearms within that city.
According to National Firearms Association President Blair Hagen: "Basically what has just happened here is that Mayor David Miller is waving a white flag of surrender at the criminal gangs that will now take over the City of Toronto. By targeting law abiding Torontonians, he's signalling to the gangs and the criminals that the heat is off of them, and is instead going to be directed at easier targets; those who actually comply with laws and respect them".
"It's clear that Mayor Miller intends to follow the failed gun control policies of countries like the United Kingdom, where gun crimes have more than doubled since handguns were banned there in 1997. Mayor Miller pays lip service to other crime fighting measures in his announcement, but it's clear who he thinks the real problem is; law abiding Canadians".
Mayor Miller's bizarre fetish for gun control is in direct contrast to the more thoughtful approach to ending gun crime taken by other big city mayors like Sam Sullivan of Vancouver.
The City of Vancouver has more than its fair share of shootings and criminal activity, but the mayor has put that in the more proper context of the need to crack down on criminals, smuggling, and fixing Canada's broken and inadequate criminal justice system.
In the 2004 Strategic Plan of the Vancouver Police Department, it was reported that "97 percent of the firearms of all types seized in crimes in Vancouver, had never been in the Canadian system".
Mayor Sullivan suggests that social conditions are also important factors and that "a ban on all handguns would certainly not end gun crime. It wouldn't root out violence, or alter gang behaviour, or topple the markets in illegal drugs and weapons. Mr. Miller is wrong to oversimplify the problem. Tragedies happen for many reasons. If all guns were banned in the sense that it was against the law to own any kind of firearm, there would still be shootings".
Mayor Sullivan of Vancouver says he's no fan of easy access to handguns, but suggests that more useful efforts to reduce gun violence would entail reducing the trade in illegal drugs, and solving the social problems that contribute to the kind of lawlessness that Mayor David Miller of Toronto has proven powerless to stop.
The Minister of Public Safety of Canada, Stockwell Day, is also opposed to Mayor Miller's demands:
"Our government has always been clear about our commitment to effective gun control. We believe, as do the majority of Canadians, that effective gun control means targeting criminals, and the criminal misuse of firearms, not Olympic competitors or the collectors of historic firearms".
"Unlike other jurisdictions, like the U.K., where banning handguns resulted in an increase in firearms crime, the steps we are taking are proven to reduce gun crime. We are delivering on our promise to hire 1,000 new RCMP personnel. We have committed up to $400-million to assist the provinces and territories in recruiting 2,500 new front-line police officers. We have also invested $19.5-million for our border enforcement teams to deal with drug and gun smuggling".
National Firearms Association President Blair Hagen says; "Rather than surrendering your city to criminal gangs by instead attacking the most law abiding members of your community, attack the root causes of that criminal activity and punish those that are responsible for it. That's something the National Firearms Association and the entire firearms community of Canada can support".
NFA President Blair Hagen continues "A growing number of Canadian politicians at all levels of government are getting the message that gun control laws directed at law abiding Canadians are not getting it done when it comes to reducing violence, Why does Mayor Miller ignores all facts and evidence and continues his crusade against law abiding people in Toronto and all of Ontario ?"
What to do if the police are knocking at your door:
http://www.nfa.ca/files/searchwarrants09letter.pdf
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