Canada has fairly strict gun control legislation. (It was even better when we actually had a long-gun registry, but I digress.) Our legislation around the acquisition, carriage and storage of firearms is one of the huge public safety advantages we have over our American friends to the south. Although even one shooting or homicide is unacceptable, our gun-related crime rates are mere pittance compared to the United States per capita, so we must be doing something right on our side of the 49th parallel. But can we do more?

The last 2 months have shown a concerning rise in the number of shootings in the Toronto area, most or all involving handguns. Some other major cities in Canada are seeing similar trends, albeit not as significant. There may be a hundred societal reasons for this spike in violence and often – but not always, the victims are somehow associated to a criminal lifestyle of some sort, which I would argue voluntarily places them in a higher risk category. However Toronto has seen a few seemingly random public shootings as of late, which as Toronto Police Staff Inspector Greg McLane said, is “not the norm”.

Given that purchasing a handgun in Canada involves a fairly rigorous process, including background checks, many of the handguns that are used in crimes here have been either stolen from legal owners in Canada, or brought into Canada from the United States, where they are a dime a dozen. Let’s be honest, just about anyone can buy one there (or ten for that matter); they are insecurely kept in purses, gloveboxes, night stands and pockets; and record keeping for legally owned guns is abysmal. Law enforcement here is working hard to keep American guns out of Canada.

Chris Lewis served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2010 until he retired in 2014. He can be seen regularly on CTV and CP24 giving his opinion as a public safety analyst.

Even though our legislation is tighter, police experts in handgun trafficking tell me that it is still possible for a person without a criminal record – like perhaps the girlfriend of a gang member, to legally purchase a dozen handguns or more. Sometimes the purchase involves multiple handguns of the exact same brand, model and calibre. Why? Who needs several identical handguns? It’s not like buying extra rolls of toilet paper when they are on sale at Costco. They are GUNS. Furthermore, there is no notification to the police on large-scale purchases.

Of course when one of them is later found at a crime scene or in some gang-banger’s possession, police can trace them back to the original purchaser who can then easily feign innocence, claiming they were taken without her knowledge. What an utter recipe for disaster. That is a door that needs to be slammed shut.

Canada needs to thoroughly study the legal handgun possession matter immediately and significantly tighten the laws around ownership to limit the number of handguns in society that can be used illegally or stolen to do harm. Government needs to act quickly, before it becomes too late to turn back the hands of time. Look at the situation we’re seeing in the U.S. How on earth could they ever try to reduce the number of handguns in a society that seemingly has more handguns than people?

Yes, there are legitimate “collectors” out there. Government would have to consider that in some cases guns have been legally handed down through generations. But in other instances, owners did not inherit them and are not target shooters. Some folks just like to buy and own handguns. Then there are those that buy handguns for “protection”, and others for no other reason but the eventual criminal use of them.

One gun-loving friend recently compared gun lovers to motorcycle owners. I do love my motorcycle for sure, but would argue that no one can haul my 800 pound Harley into a corner store or bank and commit a violent robbery with it. Nor is anyone likely to steal it and run down a group of people in a shopping mall.

In my view, only law enforcement; properly licensed security professionals; the military; and legitimate target shooters should ever be able to possess handguns. But, perhaps “authentic” sport shooters could be authorized as well – if they to belong to a licensed shooting club and have their guns securely stored there – not at their residence or office. Anyone else that is found with a handgun in any other circumstance should be arrested, charged and the penalty should be severe upon conviction.

In support of the many programs that police and other agencies are engaged in to steer our youth away from the lure of guns, gangs and other destructive lifestyles, government needs to send a clear legislative message to those that want to flout the laws and illegally possess or carry handguns and/or use them during the commission of crimes. I realize that appellant courts haven’t traditionally been supportive of harsh minimum sentences for gun crimes, but it’s time to push again.

Many constantly profess the following two arguments on this matter:

Firstly, “Guns don’t kill, people do.” Yup, you are right. But people would kill a lot less people if they didn’t have handguns.

Secondly, “Knives kill too. Are you going to ban all knives?” Another valid point. But knives have many valid uses and I don’t recall any mass knifing in a movie theatre or school, or a drive-by knifing of several innocent people on the street.

Handguns on the other hand, are for shooting targets and killing people. Canada needs to try to bring handgun possession under control to the point where only paper and tin cans are getting shot on the northern side of the international border and not innocent people.