November 24, 2004 - FIREARMS COMMISSIONER BILL BAKER: 176,000 PERSONS PROHIBITED FROM OWNING GUNS "NO LONGER EFFECTIVELY COVERED BY FIREARMS ACT."
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article473.htm

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PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE: 2005.08.05
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 7
BYLINE: CHRISTINA BLIZZARD
COLUMN: Queen's Park

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CHIEF'S TOUGH TALK NEEDS TOUGH ACTION

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TORONTO POLICE Chief Bill Blair came out with his own guns blazing yesterday in response to a gang turf war that's triggered a wave of gun violence in this city over the past week.

On Wednesday night, a 4-year-old boy was wounded, along with three adults, in a drive-by shooting on Driftwood Ave. In a separate incident, Giancarlo Savino was gunned down at a backyard barbecue on John Garland Blvd. And all this comes hard on the heels of a bloody weekend in which three people died as a result of gun violence -- including one young man who was killed in front of dozens of police officers at Dundas Square.

Just think what kind of a city that makes us. In at least one kindergarten class in September, there will be one child recovering from gunshot wounds and the rest of the kids will be living in fear, afraid that this world is a scary place to live.

Blair didn't mince words. It's bad enough when innocent adults get hurt in gang wars. The fact that a small child was wounded takes the violence to another level, he said.

"When a child is so recklessly and wantonly put at risk as was the case in this case, it demands an overwhelming response to us. I think the entire community, the entire city reacts with a great horror to the reckless violence we saw last night," Blair told a news conference yesterday.

The gang violence is not just about drugs, although that's what funds the gangs. It's also about fraud, illegal firearms trafficking and robbery, Blair said. Ominously, also, he said it's about the intimidation of witnesses.

Blair is setting up a task force and re-directing dozens of officers from other parts of the city to tackle violence in the troubled northwest. While that may sound a bit like a knee-jerk reaction, the cops successfully targeted gangs in the Malvern area of Scarborough with such a move. Blair's talking tough.

"With respect to the gunslingers, there is a small number, but a significant number, of gang members who have access to firearms and who have demonstrated a wanton disregard for the lives and safety of others in the way they use those guns to settle their disputes. And I want them to know that we are going to pursue them relentlessly," Blair said.

Well, good for him. It won't be easy. While he echoed Mayor David Miller's remarks about how part of the problem is illegal guns being smuggled from the U.S., Blair also pointed out that guns get stolen from dealers or collectors. And he says there are too many on the streets already.

Let's face it, this is our problem. We can't point fingers at other countries and blame it on them.

Almost a quarter of people cops apprehend with guns are already prohibited from carrying firearms as a result of a previous conviction, Blair said. "It's quite apparent that for those individuals those prohibitions have very little effect," Blair said.

Talk about thumbing your nose at the law. It's like the wild west. That's the kind of lawlessness we're dealing with. That's why the billion-dollar boondoggle that the gun registry became is such a travesty. People who carry guns to commit crimes aren't going to register them. That gun registry money could have been spent so much more effectively fighting crime elsewhere -- on more police, on more customs officers to search for illegally smuggled guns.

Blair wants tougher sentences. And once a criminal is put away, he or she should serve the time. "Sentencing needs to be reflective of the seriousness and the risk that these crimes present to communities. I think when people get apprehended for using handguns in our communities, the public needs to be protected from them," Blair said. "When people receive a sentence for a gun-related crime and then are very quickly released back into the community, I think the public has every right to be concerned about the effectiveness of the system."

Good for the chief. Let's hope he pays more than lip service. Perhaps this latest spate of violence will be a wake-up call for our politicians. Because when 4-year-olds are the collateral damage in a gang turf war, it's time for more than tough talk. It's time to crack down on the shooters. Because kindergarten should be a time for blankies and building blocks, not bullets and street bullies.