Toronto Heading Toward Gun Free City (Not That Criminals Will Care)

By Larry S. Moore and John Salyers

Editors Note: Just as this commentary was to be posted, National Review Online published a related piece, Canada Blames Us by John R. Lott Jr. Please be sure to check it out.

Judging from this (Canada) National Post story, Toronto might as well be on the verge of posting signs at the city limits welcoming criminals - maybe even providing visiting criminals directions signs to the nearest city central depot so the criminals can obtain all the weapons they need with one stop burglary.

Quotes from Toronto Mayor Miller include, "Store guns in central depot" and "No reason to have a firearm at home". And despite the fact that (according to Eric Greer of the Ontario Arms Collectors Association) Toronto has had a handgun registration law since 1934, Mayor Miller has decided to blame, not failed gun control laws, America for his city's problems.

We often hear reports of so-called "reasonable" gun laws. "What's wrong with at least registering your guns, like you do your car?", they ask. A quick look at that example reveals the falacy of the argument. We all know that automobile registration does not curb crime. Cars are still stolen and registration has become another series of taxes from sales taxes, title transfer taxes, E-Check taxes (in some counties), and license taxes.

Registering of the law abiding citizens and their guns has nothing to do with crime. When any gun control measure is passed and when crime does not drop, the gun grabbers' answer is to say that more drastic actions are needed. After all, because those politicians properly elected to lead, serve and protect us must do something to justify their public salaries, and since they can't admit failure, they continue to come after the only guns they are smart enough to find and that is the registered firearms.

If you confuse Mayor Miller of Toronto with Mayor Coleman or Councilman Mendel of Columbus, it's not surprising. Liberal anti-gun politicians must all read the same play book to develop their thoughts. And if you think the current "assault weapon laws" in Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, etc. are as bad as they can get enough, try looking into the future prospects. It doesn't require clairvoyance or a crystal ball, only a slight gaze north to Toronto.

Or maybe we can, for a change, take a look at the South to Mexico.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

The Brownsville Herald in Texas is reporting that strict gun control laws in Mexico are doing nothing to keep guns away from criminals. This is not surprising. Neither is the fact that the blame is being placed on the United States rather than on criminals, where it belongs.

From the story:

Since January, more than 600 people have been killed in an ongoing war between rival drug cartels using high-powered handguns and assault
rifles fighting for control of drug smuggling routes on the Texas-Mexico border.

Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market.

Mexican law requires its citizens to apply for a permit from the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) before they can buy a handgun or
rifle for hunting or self-defense.

SEDENA officials could not be reached for comment. The agency’s Web site shows applicants must submit to a background check as well as provide verification of employment and several references.

The story does not mention how many of the more than 600 people killed were innocent defenseless victims. What it does mention is that the process for obtaining a permit and approval to buy a rifle or handgun no larger than a .22 caliber is a painstaking task.

Again from the story:

Federal agents that asked not to be identified for security reasons said the permitting process in Mexico is expensive and approval to buy a handgun or rifle (that must be .22-caliber or smaller) can take up to a year.

In the United States, the Brady law requires federally licensed gun dealers to run background checks on all buyers; the process usually takes seven days or less.

At the same time, Mexican law also prohibits gun owners from carrying their weapons in public. Texas gun owners can carry weapons if they have a concealed handgun permit.

So here again we have a situation of chaos and mayhem on one side of the border where only the criminals have guns, and where it is illegal for law-abiding gun owners to carry them in public. What is wrong with this picture?

The story goes on to compare gun manufacturers and the associated numbers between the two countries. It also has a few interesting quotes from an Ohio State University professor.

Ignacio Corona, a Mexican and Latin American Cultures professor at Ohio State University, said those and other gun laws put Mexico’s honest citizens at a disadvantage.

“All the weapons are in the hands of the bad guys,” he said. But at the same time, Corona said it is difficult to predict how changes in Mexico’s gun laws would change the situation.

“If it was more lax,” he said, “perhaps it would be worse because there is no education in the culture on how to use the guns properly.”

This professor has some valid points. The bad guys have the guns, there is no education process in place concerning guns, and the honest people
of Mexico are suffering as a result. Perhaps it's time to stop blaming others and start focusing that energy on fixing the problems at hand.

Ok, now let's head back to the North, where The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) is reporting that cheap guns in the United States are to blame for recent murders in Toronto. It seems that Canadian citizens are coming to the United States, buying guns on the black market (more proof that gun control laws in America are a failure as well), and smuggling them back into Canada where the guns end up at crime scenes.

Despite the obvious, newspapers and politicians, both north and south of the border, are very happy to blame guns or the United States for their problems instead of focusing on their own failed gun control policies. They ignore the fact that their gun control laws are turning honest citizens into victims. They ignore the fact that their border patrols are ineffective at controlling contraband coming into their countries. While American hunters and shooters who travel to Canada to hunt with their firearms are subjected to multiple levels of paperwork, somehow the criminals have found out how to avoid the bureaucratic paperwork. Still, they ignore the fact that bureaucrats and paperwork protect nothing.

It is clear from recent news reports in Columbus, Ohio that Latino violence is a problem and a threat north of the Mexican border. NBC News 4 has published several reports this year about the continuing gang problems in Columbus for police and federal authorities as they round up illegal aliens in the city. The most shocking discovery was that many of these aliens had tattoos and other items indicating ties to the most violent of the gangs, MS -13 (an especially violent Latino gang with ties to Mexico and El Salvador).

For either Mexico or Canada to blame their crime problems on guns alone is ridiculous. Mexico has a violence problem and gun control problem that leaves their citizens unarmed against these criminals. Canada has a gun control socialist fixation that has left both Canadian citizens and hunters from the US hang strung with bureaucratic paperwork. The Canadian gun registry has probably cost billions of dollars and has done nothing to stop crime.

Politicians and the liberal media in both countries need some serious self-examination for the root of their problems. Of course we are not holding our breath for that to happen.

Related Stories:
Editorial: Toronto's mayor on a wild gun chase
Canada: Crime rate 66% higher in Prairie Provinces than in 4 bordering US states
Op-Ed: (Canadian) Gun control myths just won't die