Posted on 12/08/2005 7:25:55 AM PST by NapkinUser
Prime Minister Paul Martin is set to propose what Liberals are billing as a "total ban" on handguns today, in an election-campaign bid to show his party talking tough on gun crime, especially in Toronto.
Liberal sources say that the proposed ban, to be announced by Martin today in Toronto, will be sweeping — only police and select security officers would be allowed to carry handguns.
More money, on top of the $1.9 million announced in November, will also be promised for community policing in areas afflicted by gun violence, the sources said.
Less than a month ago, Martin stood at the side of Toronto Mayor David Miller in the Jane and Finch area and declared: "We're going to take handguns out of our communities."
Since then, a government plan to crack down on gun crime has now become a policy plank in the Liberal campaign platform for the Jan. 23 vote.
Of the 75 homicides in Toronto this year, 50 have been committed with handguns. Police estimate half have been committed with handguns illegally smuggled into Canada, and a good portion of the others were committed with stolen weapons.
Gun-control advocates have said that any clampdown on handguns, then, must also deal with border-tightening measures and gun theft, not simply extended bans. With Martin heading to the border city of Windsor tomorrow, where crimes involving firearms are also a major concern, it's largely expected that his anti-gun platform will contain some measures to address the smuggling problem as well.
Handguns are already largely prohibited in Canada, in the wake of a law that came into effect in 1998, banning all .22- and .32-calibre handguns with a barrel length less than 105 millimetres. But there were big exceptions — collectors, sports shooters and many previous owners were allowed to hang on to their handguns. There are currently estimated to be about 300,000 weapons in Canada.
Liberal sources were not releasing details of the proposed ban, but it is clearly aimed at locking support in urban areas such as Toronto where the party is already ahead of the Conservatives and New Democrats.
What it does to the Liberals' hopes in more rural areas or the West however, where gun control is more controversial, remains to be seen.
In terms of a "total ban," as it's billed, the tighter handgun controls could include:
Even greater restrictions on who is allowed to own handguns, with fewer exceptions.
A ban on the sale of handguns, as Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant has been discussing.
An extension of measures to encompass even more weapons under the ban.
Conservatives have not unveiled their own gun-crime platform yet in this campaign, but it's not expected to include any ban. Instead, Tory sources have told the Star's Sean Gordon that the party will focus on stiffer mandatory sentences, consecutive sentencing for offenders and new laws to cover the use of firearms in other offences.
The NDP is expected to focus on border-control measures in its platform and better ways of getting at the root causes of gang and gun crime in communities.
Meanwhile, in interviews yesterday in Montreal, Martin attacked Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, saying he was trying to keep Parliament from functioning.
"Why does he want to elect more MPs if it is not to lead to separation?" Martin asked, in an interview with the Radio-Canada radio program Sans Frontières. "Their key goal is that Parliament doesn't function." He said that it was "really rare" that the Bloc supported the government.
Interviewer Jean Dussault pointed out the Liberals had passed same-sex marriage legislation with the support of the Bloc.
"It's pretty rare," Martin insisted. "Except for certain cases, they have done everything they can to prevent Parliament from functioning."
According to Dominique Comtois of the Bloc Québécois, the parliamentary voting statistics are quite different.
"If you include all the votes — committee votes, motions and votes in the House, the Bloc voted with the government 86 times," he said. "It voted with the Conservatives 80 times, and both parties voted against it 62 times."
Martin was asked about New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord's comment that Martin was like a "pyromaniac" who was setting the unity fire and then asking to be the one to put it out.
Martin retorted: "He's a partisan Conservative and he's a big supporter of Stephen Harper."
Martin said the primary responsibility of a Prime Minister was to fight for the unity of the country. "I am going to do that," he said. "I am going to do it in Quebec, I'm going to do it where anybody would challenge the unity of this country. And nobody, not Bernard Lord or Gilles Duceppe, is going to stop me."
Well, just damn. How are all the Pot farmers going to defend their "gardens"?
</sarcasm>
...by taking legally-held firearms away from law-abiding, peaceful citizens. Brilliant!
Liberal a$$tard.
--what Bloomberg, Feinstien, Durbin -and Hillary-- dream of---
Never mind that the guns used in most of those Toronto shootings were already illegal, never mind that a burglar is more likely to enter an occupied home with people present in Canada than the US, never mind that this hasn't worked in the UK, never mind that the gun registry has been an expensive boondoggle, Paul Martin calls for more feel good crap which will mean that no one in Canada can be armed but the government. This might play well in Ontario, but I can't see the Alberta and Manitoba support for this.
Canadians, please make Steve Harper the next PM...and oh, yeah, get rid of that Quisling Belinda Stronach (Hillary of the North) while you are at it.
Ping!
joker,
gun registry was supposed to do that. Was not successful.
all it proved was a criminal will get a gun and use it when and where he wants. he will steal a registered gun and use it if need be.
perhaps the jokers should start a knife registry as more are killed with knives than guns
have you registered your butter knife?
"Liberal sources say that the proposed ban, to be announced by Martin today in Toronto, will be sweeping — only police and select security officers would be allowed to carry handguns."
That should say "only police, select security officer AND the bad guys will have guns since the bad guys will know that no one can defend themselves"..
I gotta shake my head in disbelief at the "solutions" liberals come up with..
Well banning handguns has really worked in Britian so I'm sure it'll do just as well in Canada (/sarcasm)
I'm not really up on Canadian culture. Is this a popular sentiment, or is this guy going to get buried?
And 100% of the homicides were committed by human beings. Eliminating the humans would follow a similar line of logic.
FMCDH(BITS)
> I can't see the Alberta and Manitoba support for this.
States 51 and 52?
Don't forget how well it has also performed in preventing gun violence in WA DC, NYC, and Chicago.
Prime Minister Paul Martin is set to propose what Liberals are billing as a "total ban" on handguns today . . .
Can't wait to see how he plans to enforce this without letting even law enforcement personnel use any guns. I'm guessing "total ban" is being used in some nonliteral sense.
Of course "total ban" doesn't mean the sturmtruppen
Apparently (accordinfg to a Globe and Mail report of today) this ban would only affect a few people and that is it.
So what the hell is Martin trying to prove other than getting a headline in the left leaning Toronto Star and Globe and Mail?
This reminds me of yesterday when Martin is whining about the USA not joining the Koyoto Accord. And then in the same press story we find out the USA emissions have gone up by 13 % while Canada's and the EU's emmissions have gone up 24%! And to top it off we find out Martin is using a plane that puts out more greenhouse gases than the opposition parties planes!
I think Martin is on crack!
Hey Paul ... the people doing the crimes in Toronto are using illegal handguns right now you F---ing idiot! Of course the press won't pick up on this.
Well, at least now they have a nice convenient databases to use for the confiscations.
So guns have been the tool of homocide in 66.67% of all homocides. Why not just make homocides illegal and cover 100%?
And, if it worked so well on AN ISLAND, it's sure to work on a continent, no?/sarc
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