Criminologist worries about guns in town
A criminology professor at UdeM is worried about the surge in firearms as incidents of shootings are reported around town, although our homicide rate is still very low for a city this size. As mentioned in the Gazette piece Thursday, although the popping of caps is all gang-related, there’s always the risk of a stray bullet injuring or killing someone not involved in their dangerous games.
Blork 09:47 on 2019-11-01 Permalink
*Still* being the key word. For how long? Toronto has had 400 shootings so far this year (33 fatal). How long before things skyrocket to a similar level here?
And at the risk of starting a flame war, handgun bans do next to nothing to reduce these numbers. There needs to be money and resources put into community work that discourages gang activity, as well as very harsh penalties for gun-related crimes (including simple possession of a gun) to discourage kids from pickiing up guns.
Ephraim 10:52 on 2019-11-01 Permalink
@Blork – Penalties only work if you actually catch people… it’s not the punishment, it’s the apprehension. But maybe it’s time for some of these clubs to put in metal detectors and clear policies that police are called if an illegal weapon is found. But the police need to actually come… not put this on a low priority and never bother to show up. They may need to station a few officers in close proximity from 11PM until 2:30AM on weekends.
qatzelok 13:25 on 2019-11-01 Permalink
Eph, militarizing the police has done nothing to reduce shootings in the USA, so you’re suggesting a pre-failed strategy.
Bjork is much better by suggesting prevention through social programs and aid to communities that are struggling to integrate into general society. I’ve worked in community centers for 20 years, and these do a lot more to preventing social violence than cops carrying AK-47s.
Ephraim 20:14 on 2019-11-01 Permalink
@qatzelok… again with reading things that I never said? Where did I suggest militarizing the police? Suggesting that they come to pick up an illegal weapon is militarizing them? I didn’t even suggest arresting or stopping them… just collecting a weapon.
Chris 15:26 on 2019-11-02 Permalink
Blork, you’re likely right that handguns being illegal wouldn’t make gangs decide ‘oh, it’s illegal, I guess we better not own guns’. But it might help in other ways. For example, if less guns were owned generally, there would be less guns for gangs to steal. There would be less guns for children to use accidentally. It’s not like hunters need handguns, why should they be allowed? The only reason I guess is self-defence.
Michael Black 15:56 on 2019-11-02 Permalink
Interestingly, I’ve seen the suggestion of handguns for bear country. There may not be much warning before they are close, and if people aren’t hiking, they don’t want to carry a rifle.
Blork 18:23 on 2019-11-02 Permalink
@Chris: Existing handgun regulations pretty much keep that in check. My understanding is that virtually none of the handguns being carried by gang members in Montreal (and Toronto, etc.) are stolen guns from B&Es. There is a river of black market guns flowing across the border from the US, and that is where almost all of them come from. Black-market handguns are plentiful in the US and they are very easy to smuggle.
@Michael Black: that sounds insane. You would need a very high calibre handgun to stop a bear, and the bear would have to be very close, and the person would have to be very calm and highly trained. Given how rare fatal bear attacks are (four in Canada since 2010), the idea of promoting handgun use for bear protection sounds like some NRA bullshit excuse to just loosen up handgun regulations.
Ephraim 13:35 on 2019-11-03 Permalink
@Blork – There is just 1 legal gun store in Mexico… almost every single gun in Mexico is from the US.