freespirit
17th July 2012, 10:33 AM
The right to live without fear in our own neighbourhoods
This most recent incident of seemingly-random, indiscriminate shooting into a crowd of people is perhaps the most horrifying of them all.
http://news.sympatico.ca/OpEd/Coffee-Talk/scarborough-party-shooting
Gunfire erupted at a street party in the east end of Toronto last night, leaving two people dead and 21 people injured. Among the injured is an infant; Toronto Police reported that the child is in medical care with non-life-threatening injuries.
The shooting came during an annual block party organized by the community, and created havoc and panic throughout the neighbourhood. The two deceased victims of the gunfire are Toronto’s 27th and 28th homicides of the year.
The incident is reminiscent of the shooting at the Eaton Centre earlier this summer, where innocent bystanders were caught in a spray of bullets in the food court. It is the third major incident of homicide by firearm in Toronto in the past six weeks, causing some people to question:
Does Toronto have a gun problem?
A few years ago, newspapers in Toronto were running headlines about the "summer of the gun;" it wouldn’t be surprising to see those headlines re-appear this year, as the city seems to be plagued by stories of violence and gunfire. This most recent incident of seemingly-random, indiscriminate shooting into a crowd of people is perhaps the most horrifying of them all — if such wanton violence can take place at a community party, it does feel like nowhere is safe.
That, in essence, is the biggest problem that comes from all this gun violence: if residents don’t feel safe in their home city and their own neighbourhoods, then yes, Toronto does have a gun problem.
It’s a problem that won’t be easy to fix. The underlying causes — gang activity, education and recreation issues, easy access to firearms and inefficient gun control, untreated mental illness, variable economic and demographic factors, etc. — aren’t quick issues to address. They will require years of systemic change and evolution.
What can be done immediately, however, is make the consequences of gun use so punitive that it would be ridiculous to even think of using a firearm to settle a debate. Our legal system needs to step and prosecute those that use firearms (of course, not those that use it legally for sport) to an extreme extent, no matter what the consequences of their use.
It shouldn’t require murder or injury to have harsh punishments: anyone that shoots, or even brandishes a gun in a violent manner, should be locked up and put away for a long time. If we make the penalties for gun use strict enough, maybe some people will be deterred from even considering acquiring a firearm.
Harsher penalties won’t solve the bevy of other issues that might be leading to Toronto’s gun problem, but hopefully they can stop incidents of public gunfire, like the one last night, from ever happening again - before things escalate further (http://news.sympatico.ctvnews.ca/home/toronto_police_fear_more_violence_after_fatal_shoo tout/d2e4fca6).
The residents of Toronto, and people all over this country, have the right to not have to live in fear in their own neighbourhoods.
...this is ridiculous. the author seems to be begging for tighter restrictions and controls like that's going to solve the problem. totally laughable.
what they need to do is make it legal to open carry and the damage would have been much, much less.
this guys mentality is exactly the kind of brainwashed, fucked up, sheep-think that keeps us canadians from being able to open carry.
makes me feel ill...
...videos @ link...
This most recent incident of seemingly-random, indiscriminate shooting into a crowd of people is perhaps the most horrifying of them all.
http://news.sympatico.ca/OpEd/Coffee-Talk/scarborough-party-shooting
Gunfire erupted at a street party in the east end of Toronto last night, leaving two people dead and 21 people injured. Among the injured is an infant; Toronto Police reported that the child is in medical care with non-life-threatening injuries.
The shooting came during an annual block party organized by the community, and created havoc and panic throughout the neighbourhood. The two deceased victims of the gunfire are Toronto’s 27th and 28th homicides of the year.
The incident is reminiscent of the shooting at the Eaton Centre earlier this summer, where innocent bystanders were caught in a spray of bullets in the food court. It is the third major incident of homicide by firearm in Toronto in the past six weeks, causing some people to question:
Does Toronto have a gun problem?
A few years ago, newspapers in Toronto were running headlines about the "summer of the gun;" it wouldn’t be surprising to see those headlines re-appear this year, as the city seems to be plagued by stories of violence and gunfire. This most recent incident of seemingly-random, indiscriminate shooting into a crowd of people is perhaps the most horrifying of them all — if such wanton violence can take place at a community party, it does feel like nowhere is safe.
That, in essence, is the biggest problem that comes from all this gun violence: if residents don’t feel safe in their home city and their own neighbourhoods, then yes, Toronto does have a gun problem.
It’s a problem that won’t be easy to fix. The underlying causes — gang activity, education and recreation issues, easy access to firearms and inefficient gun control, untreated mental illness, variable economic and demographic factors, etc. — aren’t quick issues to address. They will require years of systemic change and evolution.
What can be done immediately, however, is make the consequences of gun use so punitive that it would be ridiculous to even think of using a firearm to settle a debate. Our legal system needs to step and prosecute those that use firearms (of course, not those that use it legally for sport) to an extreme extent, no matter what the consequences of their use.
It shouldn’t require murder or injury to have harsh punishments: anyone that shoots, or even brandishes a gun in a violent manner, should be locked up and put away for a long time. If we make the penalties for gun use strict enough, maybe some people will be deterred from even considering acquiring a firearm.
Harsher penalties won’t solve the bevy of other issues that might be leading to Toronto’s gun problem, but hopefully they can stop incidents of public gunfire, like the one last night, from ever happening again - before things escalate further (http://news.sympatico.ctvnews.ca/home/toronto_police_fear_more_violence_after_fatal_shoo tout/d2e4fca6).
The residents of Toronto, and people all over this country, have the right to not have to live in fear in their own neighbourhoods.
...this is ridiculous. the author seems to be begging for tighter restrictions and controls like that's going to solve the problem. totally laughable.
what they need to do is make it legal to open carry and the damage would have been much, much less.
this guys mentality is exactly the kind of brainwashed, fucked up, sheep-think that keeps us canadians from being able to open carry.
makes me feel ill...
...videos @ link...