This nation must talk about a handgun ban

It’s time for Canadians to sit down and have an intelligent, adult conversation about handguns — and handgun bans.

The strict, legal controls on these weapons that were so effective in earlier generations increasingly seem weak and ineffective.

Year after year, the toll of deaths and injuries caused by handguns continues to climb higher. Year after year, despite the pain, anguish and tears caused by handgun crimes, our politicians, police and courts seem powerless to turn back the rising tide of bloodshed. That’s why the federal government has taken the wise, if controversial step, of launching nationwide consultations on whether or not Canada should ban the private ownership of handguns.

Regrettably, the political battle lines are already drawn. Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer flat out rejects any notion of a ban, claiming it would be “completely ineffective.”

He’s certain to have support from at least some handgun owners who will understandably argue they’ve followed all the rules, obeyed all the laws and hurt no one.

Law-abiding citizens defending a freedom, even a qualified freedom, they have long enjoyed should not be thoughtlessly dismissed. Better that they be engaged. At the very least, fair-minded people should be able to agree that handgun violence has become a crisis in some parts of Canada and that the nation should consider every tool, every remedy that might protect and save lives.

To be sure, Toronto is currently the epicentre of this handgun storm. Citizens there pleaded for help after a mass shooting along the city’s Danforth Avenue on July 22 left two people dead and 12 wounded. A month earlier two sisters, ages 5 and 9, were shot and seriously injured as they played in a park.

As much as Toronto authorities insist their community is safe, the criminal abuse of handguns now occurs almost daily in Canada’s biggest city, a stark change from just a few years ago. Nor is the handgun threat confined to Toronto.

A recent Statistics Canada report identified an increase in firearms violence that was part of a rising crime rate across the country for the third year in a row. Tellingly, six out of 10 firearms-related crimes involved handguns. Though the consultations on a ban have yet to begin, the old arguments against tougher gun controls are already being rolled out.

Critics insist that a ban would be useless, punishing responsible handgun owners while doing nothing to stop criminals from buying weapons illegally brought into Canada from the United States.

But if many handguns are imported illegally from the U.S., police say they are increasingly sourced in Canada, either purchased or stolen from Canadians who have a legal right to possess them.

Other jurisdictions, such as Japan and the United Kingdom, which have banned the private ownership of handguns experience far less gun violence than Canada does.

And compromises are always possible. Even if Canada did proceed with a ban, the government is open to allowing target shooters to continue to use handguns at tightly regulated commercial facilities.

Perhaps we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves. The public consultations haven’t begun. Any new law would come months, possibly longer, after those discussions.

When little children and innocent bystanders are being hit by stray bullets, something has gone badly wrong in Canada.

Can’t we put partisan politics aside for a while? Can’t we just talk about how to set things right?