| NOTE:
This article also appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times Colonist,
Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen.
PUBLICATION: National
Post -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada mulls suing American gun makers: Bid to end smuggling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA - Federal and provincial justice ministers will consider a proposal next month to sue U.S. gun manufacturers as part of a plan to stem the flow of illegal handguns across the border, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday. "If, by doing it, we would hold accountable gun manufacturers and thereby more effectively combat cross-border smuggling, then that would be the reason for doing it," Mr. Cotler said. Earlier, Prime Minister Paul Martin indicated it was among the issues he intended to raise with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Word that Canadian governments could sue gun makers came as a spate of weekend violence in Toronto continued, with at least two more daylight shootings in Canada's largest city. Mr. Martin said at a news conference up to half of all gun crimes in Canada are committed by individuals using firearms that have been smuggled into the country. He added the United States has an "obligation" to get tough on gun smuggling by working more actively with Canada. "They're trying, but I'm not sure that people have the impression that there's the same sort of aggressive attention on this as there is on other issues," said Immigration Minister Joe Volpe, who represents a Toronto riding. A Toronto police spokesman could not confirm the statistics the Prime Minister quoted about the number of illegal guns smuggled into Canada, but said anecdotal evidence suggests firearms are either stolen in domestic, residential break-ins or smuggled across the border. Mr. Cotler cautioned that the federal government cannot sue gun makers, and provincial governments may have difficulty in the United States, where President George W. Bush has sided with firearms producers when asked to comment on similar domestic court battles. "We will have to see what initiatives may be available with respect to legal initiatives in our courts that would work with regard to combatting cross-border smuggling," he said. Roy Cullen, the parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, called the proposal "extreme" and suggested it is unlikely to succeed. "I remember I talked to David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto. It's an option that he'd asked the lawyers at City Hall to look at. Frankly, I don't think it's very viable," Mr. Cullen said. "I know some governments have been successful in suing tobacco companies, and maybe there's a stronger link here, but manufacturing handguns isn't the problem, really. It's the people using them and the criminals. Handguns in the right hands are not the problem." The meeting of federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers will take place in the first week of November in the Yukon. Mr. Cotler said the government will soon unveil a legislative package that includes crime-prevention measures, new offences and stiffer penalties, and initiatives to increase the effectiveness and co-operation of U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies. "We hope that taking these three together -- crime prevention, criminal law reform and law enforcement initiatives -- that will ... bring us into a situation where we will improve and combat gun-related crimes," he said. Peter MacKay, the deputy Conservative party leader, said the Martin government's criticism of the United States, as well as the possible plan to take legal action against U.S. gun makers, is misguided. "I think ... from a governing perspective, the more important issue is what are we doing to support our law enforcement community," Mr. MacKay said. "Why aren't we giving them the necessary resources, training and commitment from the government to address the burgeoning and widening violence that's breaking out on the streets of Toronto and other major cities?" "I think ... from a governing perspective the more important issue is what are we doing to support our law enforcement community," Mr. MacKay said. "Why aren't we giving them the necessary resources, training and commitment from the government to address the burgeoning and widening violence that's breaking out of the streets of Toronto and other major cities?" ----------------------------------------------------------- SO THE TORONTO POLICE CAN'T CONFIRM THE STATISTICS USED BY PRIME MINISTER MARTIN, SO WHERE DID THIS STATISTIC COME FROM? SEPTEMBER 25, 2005 - TORONTO STAR, PAGE A1: "There is an estimate by the police that up to 50 per cent of the gun crimes in Canada are done by people with guns obtained in large part illegally from the United States," Martin told an Ottawa news conference yesterday as he outlined his government's still-developing plans to get tough on firearms crime. SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 - VANCOUVER SUN, PAGE A2: "Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says half the weapons used by criminals are smuggled from the U.S." AUGUST 10, 2005 - TORONTO STAR, PAGE B2: "Mayor David Miller and police Chief Bill Blair said this week that more has to be done to prevent the flow of guns across the border since 50 per cent of the firearms used in crime here come from the United States." JANUARY 3, 2003 - TORONTO
POLICE CHIEF JULIAN FANTINO: "We have an ongoing gun
crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law
registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve
any of them," said Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino. "None
of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe
that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United
States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical
results considering the money could be more effectively used for security
against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives." |