I might have a bit more sympathy for American views on our marijuana laws (or lack thereof) if they showed the slightest concern about the epidemic of gun smuggling into Canada. That concern however is completely non-existent.
Meantime, hardly a day passes without news of some shooting in a Canadian city -- often gang-related and too often devastating to innocent bystanders like Shaquan Cadougan, the four-year-old from Toronto. The Malvern Crew came under public scrutiny last year after a stray bullet flew through the wall of a home in north Scarborough, killing Derek Wah Yan, 40, and later when an innocent 21-year-old, Omar Hortley, was gunned down on a city sidewalk. The four-day spate of shootings in Vancouver that garnered so much attention last year claimed the life of a man walking on a thoroughfare during rush hour (police believe he had run out of gas). In Montreal, a 30-year-old man was wounded 18 months ago during a gang shootout outside an apartment block.Why then, is gun smuggling not a top-line subject in the ongoing negotiations to strengthen border controls? If Washington complains of terrorist cells operating north of the border, or hydroponic pot pouring southward, surely Canada has a legitimate gripe about U.S. guns endangering its police and creating a lethal environment in its cities. Where is the quid pro quo?
The answer, of course, lies in the elephant-and-mouse imbalance that has always defined Canada-U.S. relations. While the U.S. leans heavily on Ottawa to harmonize its immigration screening and border security to weed out terrorists, Canada must focus on protecting its $680-billion trade relationship with the U.S., and has little leverage for its own demands. "This would be very hard to get on any kind of binational agenda," says Reginald Stuart, an expert in Canada-U.S. relations at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. "There's just no constituency in the United States to support it at a federal level." One problem is money. Even if the ATF wants more funds for anti-smuggling operations, says Stuart, a past scholar at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, "the answer's going to be 'okay, get in line'."
Another problem is America's ongoing love affair with firearms, which gun control advocates say blinds it to the fears of its neighbours. The latest statistics indicate there's a gun in America for nearly every one of the country's 280 million people, and the anti-firearms lobby is getting nowhere with Republicans in control of Congress and the White House. While the ATF and other agencies have worked diligently to help Canadian police, the sheer volume of firearms south of the border makes their work appear futile. To Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, this alone justifies Ottawa sticking its nose into American affairs. "We need to hear from other countries who say, 'We've done all we can. We need help,'" he says. "You have a role in this debate."
We do indeed, and right now we are hampering our own efforts to control the flow of guns by giving ridiculously ineffective punishments to those caught smuggling. Right now, smuggling a gun across the border can get you a fine of $300-400, far less than the street value of the weapon being smuggled. If you're a criminal, it makes good economic sense to bring in illegal guns.
We must also wake up to the fact that this country has a growing street gang problem. That is finally happening in Toronto, which is experiencing a spate of gang-related shootings and injuries or deaths to innocent bystanders.
Toronto is deploying dozens of extra police officers to crack down on gangs after a recent rash of gunplay killed several people and injured others, including a young boy.Police Chief Bill Blair said Thursday that he was forming a task force to fight gang violence in the northwest Jane-Finch neighbourhood where most of the violence has occurred.
The chief said there had been a dangerous escalation of violence in the area during the past two weeks, with 14 incidents of gunplay and four fatal shootings.
Let's hope that more police officers and innovative policing techniques comprise the right formula for reducing gun violence. But ultimately, we must fight the battle at the border, where the front line against smugglers lies. However, that proves exceptionally difficult given the volume of traffic across the border each day and the relative ease of hiding a few handguns.
Some positive steps are being undertaken. American law enforcement agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have been helpful in working with the RCMP on cross-border smuggling, and recent legislation requiring hospitals to report gunshot wounds to the police is proving helpful. Toronto's Task Force on Street Gangs is also positive move. Upping the penalty for gun smuggling would be a logical next step.
We can expect little help from the U.S. government in terms of closing gun sale loophole at gun shows, given the influence the gun lobby has over the Republican Party. Therefore, whatever solutions we adopt will have to largely be made in Canada, and ultimately I suppose that's probably for the best. Now if only we could get the same consideration the Americans, who are so keen to enforce their laws in this country.
I was thinking the same thing when I read through Macleans's this week. I can't think of a lot of people that have died because we are negligent with our pot laws, but I'm not sure if we can say the reciprocal.
It's ridiculous, personally I think we should extradite gun smugglers here and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Ok now back to reality. Since the premise of your argument is that it's our trade relationship with the US that's hampering our ability to deal with them on a quid pro quo basis, I suggest that we bring in another trading partner (HELLO CHINA!) to threaten the States with until they take our grievances seriously. I totally agree that gun smuggling should be stopped. I also think that we should be looking at the situation here in Canada as to what causes people to use gunplay in the first place (poverty? Sociocultural influence?) and correct those. Also increase police presence in the areas affected A multi tiered approach is always better than a one issue band-aid solution.
What is Customs doing while these guns are being smuggled into Canada? Collecting tax! There was an article on the news the other night about a shop owner being charged with bringing illegal weapons(knives and brass knuckles) into Canada. He had paid the duty on them and had them displayed in his store. He thought they were legal as they had passed customs. What was Customs thinking when they passed them? Why weren't they stopped at the border?
If more due diligence is not done at the border by our own people, how can we blame the US? Isn't it our responsibility what gets into our country? Or do we want the Americans to take over that job too? I guess being psychologically prepared for terrorism means that we don't have to stop terrorists at the border either?
Canada, under the Liberals, has become a schizophrenic country.