Mayor John Tory is calling on the federal and provincial governments to help stem the rising tide of gun violence this year that that has left Toronto on edge.

In a letter addressed to federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Ontario Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Yasir Naqvi, Tory asks for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss ways that the three levels of government can work together to help police “in targeting gangs and putting a halt to the terror and misery they inflict on our neighbourhoods.”

Speaking with reporters at a news conference Wednesday, Tory called the recent violence “shocking” and “scary” but insisted Toronto is still a safe city and that he refuses to accept the idea that a spike in violence goes hand-in-hand with the city’s growth. 

“What distinguishes this city from other big cities in North America and elsewhere in the world is the fact that we have found a way, not perfectly, but we’ve found a way to live together,” Tory said. “We’ve found a way to make sure that whatever our differences are, they don’t erupt into violence.

“And these gangsters, and that’s who they are, they threaten that because they’ve decided that they’re going to live in a world unto themselves where they just carry a gun in their pocket and pull it out when they want to.”

Tory said he wouldn’t rule out any tool that might help take guns off the streets, including a motion by Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti for a gun amnesty program that would allow people to turn guns in to police without any questions being asked. That motion came before city council Wednesday, but was referred to the city's executive committee.

In his letter to the other levels of government, Tory points out that about half of illegal handguns seized by police are smuggled in from south of the border and says more must be done to stem the flow of weapons from the United States.

“We simply cannot let this stand and we must do everything in our power, working together, to stem the flow of illegal guns into our country,” Tory says in the letter.

“Americans can set whatever gun policies they want, but that doesn't mean we have to suffer as a result. We must act now to strengthen enforcement at the border, as the numbers suggest such action would have the greatest and most immediate impact.” 

Early yesterday, Toronto police released figures showing that that the city has seen 20 shooting deaths this year, compared to nine by the same point last year and 11 by this point in both 2013 and 2014 respectively. Overall, shooting incidents are up more than 57 per cent to 170 so far this year.

Recent gun crimes have shocked city

A number of violent incidents over the past few months have highlighted the rising gun violence in the city.

On May 15, pregnant mother Candice Rochelle Bobb was fatally shot as she sat in a carwith friends in Jamestown. Her baby, delivered via emergency C-section, died in hospital three weeks later.

Then last week, a 10-year-old boy was injured as a hail of gunfire entered the bedroom of a home in the Jones and Danforth avenues area as he slept.

And just yesterday, residents of the city’s upscale Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood were shocked by a brazen daylight shooting that left one man dead.  That incident brought the number of shooting deaths in the city to 21 so far this year.

Speaking with reporters, Tory said more work also needs to be done to give young people alternatives to gang lifestyles that lead to violent crime.

He also urged the people of the city to do their part in bringing violent criminals to justice by coming forward to police if they witness violent crimes or have information about gang activity.

"We need people to tell us things they see, to tell us things they know," Tory said.

That idea has also been trumpeted by Police Chief Mark Saunders, who has said that public information is key to taking guns off the city’s streets and credited information from the public in playing a role in a recent series of raids dubbed “Project Sizzle” where police arrested 53 people in the GTA and in Montreal and seized 17 handguns. 

Overall, police have seized more than 300 guns from Toronto streets so far this year, Tory said.