A CANADIAN RETHINK

By one Edmonton editorialist, anyway

When we first read the headline in last Thursday's Sun - "Feds taking aim at gun violence" - we thought that there must have been some mistake. Gun violence? What gun violence? We have a very expensive national gun registry that was put into place to ensure that every firearm in Canada can be tracked. We have cumbersome regulations in place that make it more difficult for Canadians to buy guns. We have armies of bureaucrats shuffling paper to and fro to make sure that everything related to guns in this country is all very above-board and law-abiding. So there can't possibly be any gun violence in Canada!

OK, we made our point. There is still lots of gun violence in Canada, and the gun registry hasn't done a single thing to stop it. And it's not like we'd ever wish daytime street shootings on anyone, but surely the irony of the latest spate of gunplay to plague Toronto - where shootings have become almost a daily occurrence - is not lost on people. The gun registry was originally put in place by the Liberals to placate urban Ontario voters. And who is currently being terrorized by rampant gun violence? Torontonians. There's a lesson here to be learned, but neither Toronto voters nor the Liberal party is going to learn it.

Edmonton cabinet minister Anne McLellan declared that "I'm very concerned about the whole question of gun violence and about the whole question of gun smuggling." Great. Although she immediately blunted the impact of those remarks by insisting that "we have no evidence that there are more guns being smuggled into the country than ever before."

Well, there's only one of two choices here, and neither one reflects terribly well on current Liberal crime policies. Either these guns are getting into the country through the United States or from other countries through our ports of entry and the federal government's customs agents are not able to prevent it, or these guns are, in fact, originating from here in Canada and the $2-billion boondoggle of a gun registry is - surprise, surprise! - not stopping criminal from using guns.

Back in late 1994, when then-justice minister Allan Rock first unveiled the gun-control program, he declared, "This tough new gun-control program will improve public safety and also send a strong message that the criminal misuse of guns will not be tolerated." Eleven years later, the Liberals are suddenly worried about gun crime because Toronto has been blitzed by gun violence. In a more sane country, Toronto would realize that the gun registry has been exposed as an expensive waste of money and would punish the Liberals for lying to them by voting them out. And the Grits would shut down their useless registry and put the money into actual police officers fighting crime.

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Arizona: Man shoots intruder: "Russell Wagner, 54, told police he shot Aaron Prescott, 19, after Prescott tried to enter his home about 2:30 a.m. He said he opened his door after hearing yelling outside and Prescott tried to enter through a screen door. Wagner claims he shot in self-defense and told investigators he didn't know Prescott, Detective Tim Gaffney said. Police questioned Wagner and released him."


Georgia: Victim shot burglar: "A Savannah woman says she was a burglary victim twice before she turned the tables and shot the man she says was trying to rob her for a third time. We first told you Friday night about a shooting at Westlake Apartments on Greengate Court. Police say the woman's apartment was broken into several times last week. Friday night she says the same man tried breaking into her apartment again and she shot him. "