Ban handguns

Explaining my introductory postcard: “Ban handguns and help youth avoid being drawn into crime”

I spearheaded a joint effort of Toronto Greens to put together a statement on gun crimes.  Quite simply, we need to ban handguns and assault weapons throughout the country.  These are weapons that have no use except to kill people.  Regional bans are completely pointless and ineffective where there are no border controls.  A buy-back programme must be implemented to encourage gun owners to get rid of these weapons.  These basic principles have been supported by Mayor David Miller, by Dalton McGuinty’s provincial Liberals, by Paul Martin in the 2006 election and by local Liberal candidate Andrew Lang in the previous election.  The idea has broad political support.

Strengthening related gun laws

We also need to recognize that a handgun ban will have only limited effectiveness.  Three quarters of the handguns used in crimes in Canada are illegally owned.  We need to crack down on gun smuggling, treating it as a gun crime of the highest order rather than a customs violation.  We also need to make sure that gun crimes are actually prosecuted, rather than dropped for convictions on lesser charges.

Crime prevention — the most important part

But most of all, we need to nurture conditions where youth have opportunities and hope for a future outside of crime.  Because it’s much harder to keep guns away from people who want them, and it’s impossible to prevent criminals from using legal weapons in illegal ways.  We need to take crime prevention seriously, with sustained intervention in target areas at a local level funded by all levels of government, engaging youth, business, recreation, ecumenical, police, educational and other groups acting as watchdogs and offering youth vision, activity and opportunity.  It is a model with demonstrated success made famous by the Boston Miracle.