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
?"