I'm with you on this one. A gun ban isn't going to help.

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Who's claiming Canada doesn't have gun violence? Nobody I know.

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That was the point of Canada's gun registration laws, though: to eliminate "gun violence" in Canada. It worked as well as such things ever do.

Of course, those who think that guns can be violent (else why call it "gun violence"?) are not appeased. They want to confiscate all guns in civilian hands.

Gun registration has always led to gun confiscation. Canada's apparently headed down that same road.

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Seems to have worked to a certain extent, though. I hear Canada has, if not a complete lack of gun violence, less of it than the US.

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...but no less than the amount they had before they enacted their registration law.

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michael moore, although he didn't claim there was zero gun violence in Canada, did draw a comparison between there and the US. hunting is huge up there, guns are a common thing, but compared to the amount of violence we have in the US, its nothing.

I don't think they glamorize violence the way we do.

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Yeah, they don't seem to have as much of a "love affair" with guns as the US.

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Yeah, even though I love my Nintendo Light Zapper, I'm baffled by the macho love for guns. Might as well love your toilet plunger, keep it mounted on the wall next to your dead animal collection.

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What's going to be interesting is to see how this plays out in the upcoming general election. Recent polls have the Liberals, the backers of the proposed gun ban, doing rather poorly in Ontario, which is where most of the ridings are, and the main source of the Liberals' power. (The polls have the race in Ontario as a thin 2-point lead for the Grits over the Tories, not a good thing if you're the Liberals.)

Expect to see this incident provide ammo (so to speak) for the Grits to push their gun ban, and stampede voters in Ontario.

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There have been more shootings, apparently gang and drug related, though this one is a lot more brazen than most, happening in the middle of Toronto's biggest mainstream shopping district during the busiest shopping day of the year, rather than way out in "that" part of town.

Meanwhile, Canada has had handgun registration since the 1930s, and the much-trumpeted Liberal handgun ban being proposed very much follows their tactic of re-announcing an existing or previously-promised measure and making it sound like a new promise. The only apparent new substance might be restrictions on collectors, as opposed to target-shooters.

Over in the other corner, the Conservative Party is proposing to put more police and social resources on the front lines rather than pretend that a simplistic ban would put any dent in crime.

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