Toronto police go on gun seizing spree

[HEyHEY]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/09/18/to-guns-seized.html

Don't know how I feel about this. Reminding people to re-register is just as effective as taking them for safe keeping.

[EmilyKent]

1. This is about a gun license, not the gun registry.

[HEyHEY]

2. Yeha, but you re-register your license.

[EmilyKent]

4. A license is about you.

The registy just records what guns you have.

It's the difference between having a valid driver's license....and whatever cars you buy in a lifetime.

[HEyHEY]

5. I'm well aware of this

But you re-register your license, or re-apply whatever you want to call it. When you get a license you are registered, not your guns, but YOU. We're just talking about the language here.

[EmilyKent]

6. Yes, but people are confused by this.

So it's important to clarify it.

[HEyHEY]

7. Where's the fun in that?!

Confused gun owners are more likely to shoot at shadows!

BTW, I am trying to figure out the strategy on this. With the gun registry debate in full force at the moment, I can't figure out why the TPD would do this, as they support the registry. Are they trying to show the amount of improperly register/licensed firearms to prove a point?

Cause going on such a spree won't play well, it just proves the fears of the pro-gun crowd.

[EmilyKent]

8. I have no idea why they're doing it.

Maybe they think they're pointing out the difference. Seems like bad timing to me, but I doubt it will change the vote in Parliament which is all that counts.

[HEyHEY]

10. I worry about the next election

The Libs have shit the bed on this one. No one REALLY cares about the gun registry except those who are against it. So just leave it be. Meanwhile stuff like the census and building prisons for unreported crimes should be concentrated on. Yet, they have been wasting energy on the registry thing.

[spin]

16. The Canadian gun registry and its problems ...

are often used as an argument why we should not require gun registration in the states.

[HEyHEY]

3. BTW, I love the comments on that article.,...

You can see the attempt by the Cons to start a culture war working. Suddenly we're all supposed to feel oppressed by Toronto's "elite"

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

9. Wow, we would be having shoot outs here over this

[HEyHEY]

11. Well, to be honest, most Canadians don't believe the government wants their guns

The gun-nuts have been trying to drum up that kind of bullshit fear, but it never takes hold, mainly cause our gun laws haven't really changed in 50 years. So there's no progressive plan to rid the population of their weapons.

Even in this situation... all these people have to do is spend five minutes filling out a form and they will get their guns back.

[spin]

13. It's your country. I have no dog in the fight ...

All I will say is that I prefer living in Florida because the climate is a hell of a lot nicer than Canada and Florida has gun laws that I consider fair and reasonable.

I grew up in Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie and one of the best decisions of my life was to move south 41 years ago.

[Kolesar]

17. Weather like this keeps only the kind of people we want living here around

And I am happy with it
--Garrison Keillor

[spin]

19. Well I will say that Canadians have always impressed me ...

as nice people.

[Kolesar]

20. Clevelanders impressed me because they are not whiners

...and they are friendly.

[spin]

23. I grew up just to the east of Cleveland near Ashtabula ...

Long winters and short summers.

[Kolesar]

25. First frost is usually October 30.

We have a long growing season, well over 180 days.

[HEyHEY]

26. What the hell does that mean?

[jmodden]

12. Good

What's wrong with enforcing a sensible law?

[hobbit709]

14. There is such a thing as a sensible law?

[spin]

15. Why is it necessary to have to have a license to own a firearm?

In Florida there is no license requirement to own or registration of firearms (including handguns). Seems to work rather well for us.

In order to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, an individual does have to get a concealed weapons license, but the time and expense required to get one is very reasonable.

[HEyHEY]

27. So that you have been trained on how to use it properly

To get a license here you have to take a safety course. THAT is reasonable.

[proteus_lives]

29. Not really.

I learned from my father. I've never needed a safety course.

Smells like a grabber loop-hole.

[HEyHEY]

31. great, so YOU learned from your father

What about others?

[proteus_lives]

32. What other rights should require a course to use?

Should people have to pass a test before they can vote?

[HEyHEY]

33. You can't leave the safety off a ballot and blow someone's head off

You need a licensce to drive a car, don't you?

[proteus_lives]

36. But you can vote in a Bush.

Seriously, what other rights should people be tested on before being allowed to use?

[HEyHEY]

37. Yeah, but a firearm and an election are two different things requiring different approaches

And if the government wants to go ahead and make people pass a test so that they know the person understands how to store a firearm and such, that's fine by me. They are a deadly weapon and asking that people learn how to use them before buying them isn't an infringement on any rights. There are lots of things out there you need certified training to do, yet people don't consider them an infringement.

[proteus_lives]

39. Yes, lots of things but not rights.

There is a difference.

I consider the process an infringement because of the potential for abuse and individual over-power. Like the stereotypical asshole sheriff refusing to issue a carry permit for no good reason.

If you don't support similiar restrictions on the other rights then you can't support it on the right to bear arms.

[HEyHEY]

41. Again, like a car, a gun can be dangerous

And asking someone prove they can safely use one before buying one is little to ask. Up here the licensing issue it not determined by a lone sherrif, basically if you've not been given a restriction on owning a gun by the courts you'll get your gun.

[proteus_lives]

43. "Is little to ask"

That's always how it starts.

It won't stay little.

[HEyHEY]

44. Canada's gun laws haven't changed in 40 years

Despite the warnings of gun-groups saying "Oh, this is how it starts!" Nothing has started. The gun registry itself has been in place 15 years and everyone said, "Oh this is it, they're gonna take our guns!" No one who legally owned them has had them taken. It's a fallacy that their is some plan to get all the guns up here.

[proteus_lives]

45. Why does the government need to know what guns you own?

How did the laws remain unchanged for 40 years if the gun registry is only 15 years old?

[HEyHEY]

46. The registry is the only change

The police mainly use the registry. When they are going to a domestic dispute they can access it and know if there is a gun in the home.

[spin]

40. You can take a safety course in Florida, but there is no license to own ...

a firearm.

Conceivably a state could required an individual pass a safety course before he could purchase a firearm and no license would be involved, just a certificate showing the individual passed the course.

I always recommend that a person who has little familiarity with firearms take a safety course. Some people grew up around firearms and many received training in the military. Still, a training course can be a good idea.

[Kolesar]

18. That article is too brief to figure out what is going on up there...eom

[aikoaiko]

21. An example of why some people here in the US are resistant to the idea of licenses to own firearms

If this is what it looks like, that is. I wish there were more information provided about the law and the manner of the seizures.

However, this plays right into the hands about connecting governmental data bases with firearm ownership leading to a knock on the door.

[marmar]

22. Je t'aime T.O.

:loveya:

[Taverner]

24. Now THIS is gun grabbing

Show this to any Teabaggers who think 'Obama gunna git mah guns!'

This is what gun grabbing looks like, not anything the Obama admin has done

[HEyHEY]

28. They are giving the guns back, after these lazy owners fill out five minutes of paper work

[backscatter712]

30. Canada can do what it wants.

They're their own country, they don't have a Second Amendment, so who are we to tell them what to do?

[cowcommander]

34. I wish our Canadian posters here felt the same way

[HEyHEY]

35. Huh?

[laundry_queen]

38. I dunno.

Maybe the poster should clarify. :shrug:

[Canuckistanian]

42. This is probably a political move for the Toronto Police

They want to be able to "catch" some people without permits - just in time for the big gun registry debate about to start in Parliament.

It's well-known that the cops want to keep the Gun Registry and they'll do anything to keep it in place.