Canada’s Firearms Act can’t stop violent offenders from getting guns…

Canada’s Failed Firearms Act, which has required handguns to be registered in Canada since 1934, can’t stop 12-year-old kids from getting their hands on them either. The law that will “keep us safe” is, at best, an abject failure on all levels.

For example, this week in Toronto a 12-year-old boy was found with a 9mm Luger in his bedroom. It was loaded. Naturally, since the kid is so young he cannot be named under the rules of the Youth Justice Act.

It makes me wonder though, about a few things…

• How does a 12-year-old kid get a handgun?
• What does the Firearms Act have to do with safety?
• Since the legal requirement to register handguns has been in effect since 1934, why are we bothering with such a useless law when it clearly does nothing for public safety?

Take, for just one example of hundreds I could pick from, the case of Kamar Amarel Cunningham.

On May 7th, 2004 Mr. Cunningham had a firearm prohibition order placed against him.  Four years later, on March 6th, 2008, he was found in possession of two unregistered handguns during a traffic stop ultimately ruled unconstitutional by Judge S.R. Goodman because Toronto Police Service constable Justin Yelle and his training officer,  constable Brian Urkosky lied and fabricated evidence in their attempt to save the case from being tossed out.

They failed, a matter which I’ve written about previously in the latter half of this post, but that’s another matter.

What’s at issue is this: what’s to prevent a guy with a 10-year firearms prohibition order against him from getting more illegal handguns?

Absolutely nothing.

The law sure won’t do it.  The Firearms Act only tracks “clients” as it euphemistically calls law-abiding firearm owners.  It has absolutely nothing to do with anyone who has a firearms prohibition order against them.

We don’t keep track of those people at all!

We prefer to waste about $100 million a year on tracking Canada’s most law-abiding population segment, legal firearm owners, while we just let the criminal element do whatever they please.

At least that’s how it looks to me.

If we seriously had any concern for “keeping us safe” from violent criminals, we’d actually keep track of them, wouldn’t we?

We don’t.  We don’t track the very people most likely to do harm to decent Canadian citizens.  We have sex offender registries that we can’t actually put anyone into because the Supreme Court ruled it would violate the sex offender’s civil rights.

How’s that for absurd?

But back to the requirement for the registration of handguns here in Canada…  Does that requirement stop criminals from getting their hands on guns?  Of course not.

So why are we bothering?

Because the powers that be can’t comprehend that it’s not the registration of “long guns” that’s useless… it’s the registration of ALL guns that’s useless.

But that little dose of reality is not politically correct.   “Handguns are bad” is the politically correct thought.  To thing otherwise is heresy.

“The handgun registry keeps us safe.”

So “conventional wisdom” claims….

Safe from what?  From violent offenders from getting handguns?  From stopping people with firearm prohibition orders against them from getting handguns?  From stopping 12-year-old kids from getting handguns?

No, it “keeps us safe” from all those evil law-abiding gun owners that go through the hassle and invasions of their privacy required in order to obtain a firearms license and registration certificates for their handguns.

We gotta be careful of those people!

Violent criminals?  Who cares about them.