O.F.A.H. condemns Toronto Mayor’s knee-jerk reaction to gun crime spree

O.F.A.H. condemns Toronto Mayor’s knee-jerk reaction to gun crime spree

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.), is profoundly disappointed that Toronto Mayor David Miller has attempted to score cheap political points in his campaign against gun violence in Toronto on the backs of licenced, trained, law-abiding firearms owners, instead of directing his anger in the right direction.

As reported in the National Post, Mayor Miller has proposed that all guns should be banned from the city and stored in a centralized facility, even if the owners are properly licenced and the firearms are registered. Miller’s proposal is fatally flawed because it wrongly assumes that legally owned, registered and stored long guns of hunters and target shooters are part of Toronto’s problem with gun violence, but he presents not one shred of empirical evidence to substantiate his claims. Former federal Justice Minister Alan Rock also made the same ridiculous proposal over a decade ago. The idea was silly then and still silly now because it doesn’t address the real cause and effect of this violence.

The O.F.A.H., which represents tens of thousands of legitimate firearms owners across Ontario, suggests that this kind of knee-jerk reaction is hauntingly similar to the kind of rhetoric that helped to create the failed national long gun registry, a billon dollar disaster that has clearly done nothing to reduce crime or get guns off the streets and make communities safer. Proof of this lies in the fact that Canada has had a handgun registry since 1934, which has had no effect on preventing criminals from obtaining handguns and threatening public safety.

“The O.F.A.H. is appalled that instead of focusing his attention on the root causes of crime and working to achieve solutions through stiffer mandatory sentences for gun offences, no plea bargaining, increased border security and a host of other measures to combat gun crimes and gang violence, the Mayor has chosen instead to take cheap shots at an easy target,” said Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director. “Licenced, law-abiding firearms owners are not the problem. Instead of looking for scapegoats, the Mayor should be seeking real answers, and looking to other jurisdictions that have already dealt with the problem. His suggestion to create a centralized firearms storage facility is not only indefensible, it demonstrates a shockingly ill-informed and na