The recent spike in violence in Toronto will be on the agenda at this week’s city council meeting.
Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti says he will be introducing a motion to implement a gun amnesty/ buyback program in an effort to get more guns off the street.
"I think everybody agrees there is a bit of a crisis going on. I think we are all anticipating a bad summer with the gun," the Ward 7 councillor told CP24 at city hall Tuesday morning.
"I think we need to implement a program that offers any one person that brings in a gun either cash for the gun or a voucher for food."
He suggested that the city could offer $100 per gun or partner with a grocery store chain to offer gift cards in the amount of $200.
In a written statement released last week, Mammoliti said a gun buyback program operated by Toronto police in 2008 collected a total of 1,900 guns and 60,000 rounds of ammunition.
Speaking to CP24 Sunday, Mayor John Tory said council will take direction from police on whether to proceed with a gun amnesty.
“We just had a gun amnesty a few months ago and it tends to do a little bit to bring some of the guns in but it is almost sometimes more old guns that an uncle or grandfather left than it is bad guys bringing in their guns,” Tory told CP24 Sunday.
“We’ll have another one if the police deem it advisable.”
But Mammoliti defended his position, saying that those who are critical of the motion should suggest something else.
"If you’ve got something to say that is positive, then bring it to the table. I know I’m trying," he said.
"I don’t see anything else on this agenda that is trying to get the guns off the streets. So anybody that is thinking that perhaps it won’t work... suggest something else."
He said even the guns that aren't currently linked to crime are worth getting off the street.
"I think that everybody knows that any gun has the possibility of being stolen and used for crime, in fact most of them are," he added.
He said he believes a food voucher could be enough incentive for people to help get illegal guns off the streets.
"I believe that we all know that the majority of these illicit guns that exist are under someone’s pillow or under a mattress in very poor parts of the city. I would suggest that even a food voucher might be what we need for a relative of that person who is holding that gun to come to the table with that gun if they knew they were going to get $200 or $300 worth of food," Mammoliti suggested.
This past weekend has been described by Toronto police spokesperson David Hopkinson as "one of the most violent weekends we’ve seen in quite some time."
Several people were stabbed and three were shot, including a 10-year-old boy who was sleeping when he was struck by a bullet that came through the window of his east-end home.
That incident comes less than a month after a 35-year-old pregnant woman was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in the city’s Jamestown neighbourhood.
On Sunday, Tory said the gun violence in the city is concerning and added that he has been in touch with the federal government to see what can be done about stemming the flow of guns coming across the border into Canada.
“Half the guns involved in these kinds of totally unacceptable incidents are coming across the border. We’ve got to put a stop to that as best we can,” he said.
