scooter
06-25-2008, 09:39 AM
Toronto Mayor David Miller is boasting his new gun crackdown will save lives, but his opponents suggest the anti-firearm measures will shoot blanks.
Miller opened his passionate plea for a city ban on new gun clubs and manufacturers yesterday by refering to the recent carnage on Toronto streets, including the shooting deaths of Oliver Martin and Dylan Ellis. "Will it mean that fewer people are murdered on the streets of Toronto?" Miller asked. "Absolutely."
His proposal, which sailed through council on a 31-9 vote, means that the Scarborough Rifle Club at the Don Montgomery rec centre and CNRA Gun Club at Union Station will have to move from their city-owned digs. "In a day when you can't bring a large tube of toothpaste on the plane with you, how could we possibly allow guns to wander through Union Station, the biggest transportation hub in Canada?" Miller asked.
Toronto's Sportmen's Show -- held each year at Exhibition Place -- might be an inadvertent victim of the city's no-promotion policy for firearms. An amendment by Councillor Joe Pantalone to protect the show from the city's new rules failed to get through council. Miller told reporters he wasn't sure if the annual hunting and fishing show would be caught in this net. Councillor Adam Vaughan said the Sportsmen's Show promotes gun culture and should head north. "Keep them out of my city. I don't want them anywhere near here," he said.
Bernard Becker, member of the CNRA Gun Club board of directors, said the councillors who supported the proposal showed a shocking ignorance of gun laws and gun clubs.
Members of the CNRA gun club, which includes Olympian Avianna Chao, will likely have to join other clubs, he said. Target shooters will still carry their weapons through Union Station and on public transit, but will now have to travel farther to do it, he said. Becker said it's frustrating to see the mayor and council trying to link gun crimes with gun clubs.
The changes endorsed by council yesterday will not have any impact on existing shooting ranges, except for the two clubs on city property, which must move. An existing Toronto gun manufacturer is also exempt from the ban.
Councillor Doug Holyday said this doesn't reduce the city gun count by one. "It does no more than make a political statement from the city of Toronto to the public that we're doing something about guns," Holyday said.
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PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE: 2008.06.24
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 6
BYLINE: ANTONELLA ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA
WORD COUNT: 281
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Toronto boots gun clubs New rules force 2 groups out of city-owned shooting ranges
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Miller opened his passionate plea for a city ban on new gun clubs and manufacturers yesterday by refering to the recent carnage on Toronto streets, including the shooting deaths of Oliver Martin and Dylan Ellis. "Will it mean that fewer people are murdered on the streets of Toronto?" Miller asked. "Absolutely."
His proposal, which sailed through council on a 31-9 vote, means that the Scarborough Rifle Club at the Don Montgomery rec centre and CNRA Gun Club at Union Station will have to move from their city-owned digs. "In a day when you can't bring a large tube of toothpaste on the plane with you, how could we possibly allow guns to wander through Union Station, the biggest transportation hub in Canada?" Miller asked.
Toronto's Sportmen's Show -- held each year at Exhibition Place -- might be an inadvertent victim of the city's no-promotion policy for firearms. An amendment by Councillor Joe Pantalone to protect the show from the city's new rules failed to get through council. Miller told reporters he wasn't sure if the annual hunting and fishing show would be caught in this net. Councillor Adam Vaughan said the Sportsmen's Show promotes gun culture and should head north. "Keep them out of my city. I don't want them anywhere near here," he said.
Bernard Becker, member of the CNRA Gun Club board of directors, said the councillors who supported the proposal showed a shocking ignorance of gun laws and gun clubs.
Members of the CNRA gun club, which includes Olympian Avianna Chao, will likely have to join other clubs, he said. Target shooters will still carry their weapons through Union Station and on public transit, but will now have to travel farther to do it, he said. Becker said it's frustrating to see the mayor and council trying to link gun crimes with gun clubs.
The changes endorsed by council yesterday will not have any impact on existing shooting ranges, except for the two clubs on city property, which must move. An existing Toronto gun manufacturer is also exempt from the ban.
Councillor Doug Holyday said this doesn't reduce the city gun count by one. "It does no more than make a political statement from the city of Toronto to the public that we're doing something about guns," Holyday said.
--------------------------------------------------
PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE: 2008.06.24
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 6
BYLINE: ANTONELLA ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA
WORD COUNT: 281
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto boots gun clubs New rules force 2 groups out of city-owned shooting ranges
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