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STILL SHOOTING BLANKS ON GUN CRIME

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How many times have the cops warned us that bail for people accused of serious gun crimes is too easy to obtain? How many times have they told us the accused are often back on the street before they can finish the paperwork?

And how many times have those who have called for tougher bail conditions for those accused of gun crimes (and mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of them) been ignored by politicians, who babble on instead about the need for more basketball courts, community centres and social programs?

We're not saying social spending is completely irrelevant to getting at the root causes of gun crime over the long term.

But let's not be naive. No basketball court, community centre or social program would have saved 25-year-old North York car salesman Sepehr "Danny" Fatulahzadeh-Rabti from being gunned down last Thursday.

But sensible bail provisions might have.

As the Sun reported yesterday, Jodie Wheatle, 20, one of two men charged with second-degree murder in Fatulahzadeh-Rabti's death after an argument with two customers, was released on $10,000 bail a month ago, after being charged in another case.

Of course, Wheatle is presumed innocent of all these charges and it's up to the courts to decide his fate.

But it's outrageous he was granted bail so easily, despite being charged with multiple weapons offences and assaulting police. This after he was arrested at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, allegedly for carrying a stolen, loaded and cocked .45-calibre semi-automatic handgun.

A spokesman for Ontario Attorney-General Michael Bryant said the Crown opposed bail in this case, but a justice of the peace freed Wheatle anyway.

The broader issue is that people charged with gun crimes obtain bail within days or even hours of being arrested all the time. As Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory noted, this is one reason people no longer trust the justice system.

The public knows what's going on. So do the cops.

Tragically, too many politicians and court officials just don't get it. Sixteen years after the tragic Montreal massacre, which spawned the gun registry, we still have next to no control over actual gun crime.

And as a result, public safety, our safety, is unnecessarily put at risk -- over and over and over again.