Miller's not doing too well in Toronto ... as a columnist in the Star or the Globe was just noting in the weekend, the crumbling Gardner expressway is still ... crumbling; the harbourfront is still being blighted by condos; the TTC (public transit / subway system) is still rumbling downhill ...
Most of Toronto's problems, like the problems of big cities all over North America, are not things that can be addressed by mayors. Our political systems simply fail to recognize the urban nature of our societies, and treat cities like Toronto (home to about 1/6 of Canada's population) like minor outcroppings, when they are in fact the economic engines of the society and the loci of many of its problems. Federal politicians campaign on promises to give the cities the funding they need to restore infrastructure and the like, and then do nothing. Cities have to deal with the lion's share of our societies' social problems, and have only property taxes to do it with.
Miller called for a ban on handgun possession a while in the past. At the time, crimes and homicides were being committed all over Toronto with restricted weapons (mainly handguns) that had been stolen from "collectors" in the Toronto area, a couple of large hauls in particular. The streets would indeed have been a good deal safer if those collectors had made appropriate security arrangements for their collections -- or just not had them.
Then the Conservative government was elected (not by voters in the cities). Miller has been left to deal with a government that loves guns and hates cities, and holds the purse strings.
I happen to think Miller should be targeting collectors rather than sports shooters as the first priority. But collectors aren't the only firearms owners whose improperly stored firearms continue to be stolen on a regular basis.
Some day, maybe someone like "Canadian Olympic pistol shooter and downtown resident Avianna Chao" could consider making some constructive proposals of their own to address these problems.
Mine would be that shooting ranges continue to operate, and that users (people with permits to possess restricted weapons, including handguns, for sporting purposes) be required to store their firearms permanently at those facilities, except when transporting them to other facilities for practice or competition. Those are the only places they are allowed to use them now; what purpose is served by storing them off the premises? Why doesn't Ms. Chao suggest this?
Well, I don't recall reading about this one:
"After John O'Keefe's tragic killing, I don't think there's any defence for sports shooters any more," Miller said, referring to the man shot in January by a stray bullet. The gun was legally owned by the man charged in the killing.
Improper storage doesn't seem to be the only problem.
Oh no, that's right -- I'd read about the incident, just not the details:
http://www.insidetoronto.ca/News/Scarborough/article/48732Miller brought the policy forward after the shooting death of John O'Keefe in January, as he walked past a strip club on Yonge Street {Toronto's main street}. Miller pointed out that the alleged firearm in the shooting was legally owned.
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_23150.aspxThe mayor was likely referring to the recent murder of John O'Keefe, an innocent bystander who was killed on Yonge St. The gun used in the crime turned out to be legally registered and the man accused of pulling the trigger was a member of a gun club in Gormley.
A member of a gun club, with a permit to possess restricted weapons for sporting purposes (which provides that the firearms may be used only on approved club/range premises and may be transported only in accordance with a transport permit to and from those premises), carrying a handgun in a strip club. Quel law-abidin' gun owner he.
Let us not forget that Kimveer Gill, who killed one woman and seriously injured other people at a college in Montreal not long ago and would have killed more had police who happened to be present not killed him first, was a member of a gun club and in legal possession of the restricted firearms he had with him, a handgun and the rifle he used for the shooting. Someone who really wants a handgun to carry around on visits to strip clubs need only qualify for membership in a gun club in order to get legal access to the firearms s/he wants for whatever purpose s/he wants them for.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/419373Council backs mayor's bid to ban handguns
Councillors vote 39-3 to ask federal government for action, suggest minimum five-year sentence
Apr 29, 2008
... In Canada, some 84,000 legally registered, restricted weapons have been reported lost or stolen since 1974, Miller said. He wants to prevent those weapons from ending up in the hands of violent criminals.
"It's those guns that, if we prohibit the ownership of handguns, we can get off the streets. It's that simple. We can cut those sources off if we ensure handguns are no longer allowed to be owned in this country."
Council voted 39-3 (three councillors were absent) to request Parliament to make it illegal for anyone in Canada except police and military to sell, buy or own a handgun, with a minimum five-year sentence.
Councillor Mark Grimes (Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) wanted a 10-year minimum sentence, while Councillor Raymond Cho (Ward 42, Scarborough-Rouge River) suggested anyone charged with gun offences not be eligible for bail. Those ideas will be considered by council's executive committee in June.
The federal Conservatives and their bible-thumpin' gun-lovin' Alberta constituency don't give a shit about people in Toronto getting killed by people using legally owned handguns -- whether in the hands of the legal owners or of the people who relieved the legal owners of them. There's your real culture war.