Gun law useless: CriticHarsher punishment for crimes neededBy KEVIN CONNOR
The rash of murders on Toronto streets this summer shows that Ottawa's gun registry program does nothing to keep neighbourhoods safe, industry experts said yesterday.
"How can paperwork solve anything. It just puts responsible gun owners who abide by the law through the hoops," said Frank Hiemstra, manager of Shooters Choice gun shop in Waterloo.
"No gun law is going to stop the murders. There is a law that says you can't kill someone. Criminals don't follow the law. If you took every gun off the street, these criminals would use a knife or a bat."
The problem with the gun registry program is it took officers off the street to do paperwork, said Wes Winkel with Ellwood Epps Sporting Goods in Orillia.
"The cops aren't on the streets stopping the criminals," Winkel said. "Now the Toronto mayor wants spotchecks on gun stores. It's a waste of time because it's not like we have anything to do with the violence."
'COMMUNITY EROSION'
The gun registry can't control the bad guys, said Irafan Masood, with Guns and Hooks in Milton.
"People with legal guns don't do bad things. There has to be harder punishments for gun crimes," Masood said.
Wendy Cukier, a professor of justice studies at Ryerson University and a member of the Coalition for Gun Control, said the violence on the streets has nothing to do with the gun registry.
"There is an erosion between the community and the police. There can be 50 witnesses to a killing and no one comes forward," she said.
To end the violence, there needs to be better border control to stop guns coming from the U.S., Crown attorneys need to go for mandatory sentences for weapons offences and gun dealers shouldn't be allowed to sell ammunition to people without a gun license, Cukier said.
http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2005/09/25/1234738-sun.html*FW Note:"There is an erosion between the community and the police. There can be 50 witnesses to a killing and no one comes forward...
Duh. There are some people that you may not want to invite into your life because their job is to DISARM YOU and leave you DEFENSELESS.
:roll:
