Make handgun ownership more difficult

If gun violence is to be reduced, the federal Liberal government must make it harder to obtain restricted weapons. That is self-evident.

It is also what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is extremely reluctant to do.

Gun violence is making headlines again this summer. In Toronto, according to police, there have been 241 shootings to date this year resulting in 30 deaths. That’s double what it was four years ago.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s solution is to give law enforcers more money.

On Thursday, he announced that his Progressive Conservative government will give $18 million over the next four years to Toronto police. It will also spend an additional $7.5 million on Crown prosecutors dealing with gun crimes.

It’s not exactly clear what the extra Toronto policing money will be used for. Ford said that’s up to Chief Mark Saunders. But the government’s website says the money will be used to provide the force with “additional digital, investigative and analytical resources” — whatever that means.

Ford’s not wrong in devoting more money to police. Policing alone may not be enough to lower gun crime substantially. But it is necessary. Where Ford is wrong is in his assumption that nothing else is needed. There are reasons why people resort to gun violence.

Sometimes, as in the case of Danforth shooter Faisal Hussain, these reasons have to do with mental health. Sometimes they have to do with the feeling of being left out of mainstream society. Sometimes the perpetrators are simply irredeemable jerks.

But to refuse to deal with the reasons behind gun violence is to risk failure. Ford’s decision to scale back the previous Liberal government’s planned growth in mental health spending certainly doesn’t help. Nor does his insistence on upholding what he calls the right of “legal, responsible handgun owners” to possess restricted weapons.

Which is where Trudeau’s federal government comes in. It’s up to Ottawa to set the rules for who may own weapons. When it comes to handguns, these rules are too lax. As gun control advocate Wendy Cukier argues, they are also too often insufficiently enforced.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police says 50 per cent of the handguns used in crimes that its members have been able to trace were “diverted” from legal, Canadian firearms owners.

Sometimes, they were stolen. Sometimes their legal owners sold them on the black market.

My Star colleague Betsy Powell reported on a case two years ago in which a university student was able to legally purchase 23 handguns over a 22-month period. He then sold them illegally.

Ottawa’s Bill C-71 is supposed to deal with these problems. It does not. The bill, which is slated to go to the Senate this fall, would require gun sellers to keep records. It would also make background checks more rigorous. But the system would still allow far too many Canadians to legally possess restricted weapons, such as handguns. Cukier points out that there are a million legally owned handguns and assault weapons in Canada — more than double the number held 10 years ago.

Some owners, such as certain kinds of security guards, need handguns. Most don’t. They either collect handguns or use them for sport.

I see the attraction that guns hold. I used to own two .303 rifles. A firearm can be an intricate and beautiful piece of machinery. But so is a cuckoo clock, which is significantly less dangerous.

I also understand the Liberal government’s reluctance to be bold. The Liberals’ last serious attempt to control weaponry — the 1995 long gun registry — was a political disaster. Still…

Toronto City Council wants to ban the sale of handguns in Toronto. That’s not a useful idea. It would just encourage more gun shops to open in neighbouring communities.

A better idea is to limit handgun ownership across Canada to those who can prove they need such weapons.

This wouldn’t stop the illegal flow of handguns from the U.S. Nor would it deter those, such as the North York van attacker, who are determined to kill. But it would go a long way toward making this country safer. And that’s something.