Toronto: Council backs mayor's bid to ban handguns

[ericire12]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/419373

Councillors vote 39-3 to ask federal government for action, suggest minimum five-year sentence

Apr 29, 2008 04:30 AM
Paul Moloney
City Hall Bureau

Toronto city councillors have voted overwhelmingly to ask the federal government to ban handguns.

Mayor David Miller did, however, come up three votes short of the unanimous result he had hoped for in an attempt to put maximum pressure on the Stephen Harper government to act on handguns.

Miller argued strong gun laws do work. "If you look ... at countries where there is strong gun legislation, there is a corresponding lowering of the rates of not just murders, but suicides and accidental deaths. There's no doubt about it.

"England has really strict laws and they have significantly fewer gun-related crimes than Canada," he said. "Canada's laws are pretty strict, but with huge loopholes. We have significantly fewer gun-related crimes than the United States."

Miller described American gun laws as chaotic and weak. "The United States gun laws are outrageous, in my view, in the way they allow people with virtually no identification to get guns in some states."

 Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8, York West) buttressed the mayor's argument that handguns are meant solely to kill people. "Every movie I've ever seen, you know (what) the bull's eye at the target range is painted on? The silhouette of a human being. It's not a tree trunk. It's not a bush. So you aim at the silhouette of a human being.

"That's exactly what guns are made for. They're made for the, `Bang, bang, you're dead.' Have no illusion about that."

"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."

[jaybet]

"Miller argued strong gun laws do work. "If you look ... at countries where there is strong gun legislation, there is a corresponding lowering of the rates of not just murders, but suicides and accidental deaths. There's no doubt"

Where do they get THAT information? Besides...it's Canada- how often do they get something right?