Following some prominent recent shootings in Toronto, Canada’s leftist government is considering a complete ban on all handguns in the country, similar to the one that currently exists in the UK. It’s a perfect example of the gun control “slippery slope” that US supporters of the Second Amendment have been warning against for decades.
Canada instituted mandatory registration of handguns in 1934. In the entire history of the Canadian handgun registration, not one case has been found where the handgun registry solved or prevented a crime of violence.
Then the government took the next big step . . .
In 1993, the Liberals brought in additional changes to gun laws, passing Bill C-68 in 1995 (the Firearms Act). Over half of all registered handguns in Canada were prohibited. No evidence was provided that these handguns had been misused.
Now there’s a significant push to outlaw all handguns in the Great White North.
But among the skeptics who don’t believe an all-out handgun ban would have any meaningful effect on “gun violence” are Toronto’s police officers.
“There’s no way in my world or any world I know that this would have an impact on somebody who’s going to go out and buy an illegal gun and use it to kill another person or shoot another person,” Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said Friday.
“It really has no impact on the psyche of a gunman.”
The intention is noble, he added, but it’s “A notional gesture at best.”
Instead, McCormack would rather see more resources poured into policing and social services.
He said his years of experience in policing have taught him something about gun crime — individuals who steal, sell or use guns illegally are already facing mountains of jail time, so they’re unfazed by one more law that condemns their actions.
It’s almost as if in Canada, just as in the United States, criminals don’t really care about or comply with gun control laws. A fact that police are all too familiar with.
Most police in the United States agree with the TPA president. But it may soon be too late for Canadian gun owners.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.