Perhaps one of the most asinine statements emanating from the mouth of Toronto Mayor David Miller in recent weeks is that the current gun violence in Toronto is the result of lax gun laws in the United States. It’s yet another way for the city to abrogate its responsibility in managing a problem that will require more than a glib sound bite to solve.
It is totally out of character for Miller to lay the blame at the door of the U.S. for this city’s firearms violence problem. The usual culprits for problems of this sort are the so-called "root causes" that the socialists so love to blame for everything from teenage pregnancy to terrorism.
But it does make a wonderful sound bite in a city that prides itself on its moral superiority and imagined inherent goodness. So long as the City of Toronto has someone else to blame for its problems, then it doesn’t really have to do anything to solve them. admittedly, it’s a difficult proposition to solve a problem of this sort, as it requires a new paradigm under which to view the issues and it would require some strong action on the part of other levels of government as well as the judiciary.
First and foremost, Toronto would have to admit that its gun violence is a largely racial/ethnic problem, which in this city is totally taboo, as in the multicultural model it is verboten to ascribe certain types of crimes to any particular racial or ethnic group, even if evidence in favor of this bites one in the butt. Unless, of course, it is to blame society at large for the elevated crime rate among these groups, as does former Toronto mayor and fellow socialist, John Sewell who calls it a ""social phenomenon" that the city has refused to be serious about (see "root causes").
Secondly, other levels of government would have to have the gumption to enforce existing legislation and pass new legislation with sharper teeth designed to deal harshly with perpetrators of gun violence. For instance, what’s wrong with a law that requires a mandatory 10-year sentence with no hope of parole for anyone convicted of a violent gun crime?
Third, judges should show less leniency toward criminals as a whole, as our system of criminal justice is a joke. Yes, we do have a large per capita percentage of our citizens in jail, but in a society that has few if any expectations of its citizens that’s only normal.
Finally, the prison system would require an infusion of resources to allow it to handle a larger number of convicts being housed, without resorting to early parole as an expedient measure to reduce the prison population. In addition prison should be an unpleasant experience designed to discourage criminals from re-offending. There’s nothing wrong with rehabilitating criminals to re-enter society, but there should also be a punitive element to a prison sentence that makes it clear that crime is frowned upon.
However, it’s a lot easier to blame the U.S. for Toronto’s street crime problems because it’s substantially cheaper and requires a lot less effort.
Think about the probability of a terrorist act being committed in Toronto. While four of the five countries named by Osama bin Laden as enemies of Islam have been attacked, the fifth, Canada, is still awaiting its turn. When terrorists finally do strike here it’s a cinch that the first words emanating from the mouths of the likes of Miller and his socialist chorus will be that it’s all the fault of U.S. policy in the Middle East.
But then, one could expect no less from a mayor who is helpless to do anything about anything.