Designated Driver of North America

Thursday, December 08, 2005

On the campaign trail, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced in Toronto today that his government would ban handguns in Canada, and institute some other measures as well, in response to the rise in gun crime. (I know there's been a terrible rise in Toronto in the past year; according to some of the news reports about Martin's announcement, the increase has occurred in other Canadian cities as well.)

In this Globe and Mail article, some of the Liberal proposals are outlined, such as putting $325-million into law enforcement, creation of a gun amnesty program and money for communities, as well as hiring more officers to stem gun smuggling and gang activity, and reintroducing legislation raising sentences for gun crimes.

The article goes on to mention hiring 75 officers specifically to work on gun smuggling, but doesn't add any details.

However, there is a slightly more specific mention in this Liberal party press release:

Investments to stem illegal smuggling of firearms into Canada, including $40 million over 5 years to hire 75 additional specialized officers in the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to increase intelligence and surveillance.

This doesn't explicitly mention the American border, but what else could it plausibly mean? Are guns being smuggled into Canada through the Arctic, from Russia? Coming in on container ships to Vancouver, from China?

No, this means the United States, which is so big on guns to begin with, and whose gung-ho entrepreneurs never miss a chance to make a million bucks, no matter how illegal or harmful. Martin is clearly talking about preventing gun smuggling from the United States of America, which has very suddenly facilitated a big gun violence problem in Canada.

This is undoubtedly a signal for U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins (who possesses all the political neutrality and tact of his predecessor, which is really saying something), to launch yet another "Oh sure, we bring the guns in, but we don't make you actually shoot them so it's all your fault for picking the things up and using them after we've sold them to you, nyah!" screed.

Waiting...

**Phyl**
12/08/2005 01:33:00 PM [+]

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