Store guns in central depot - mayor: No reason to have a firearm at home

James Cowan
National Post

August 16, 2005


Gun owners in Toronto may soon be prohibited from keeping their firearms at home even if they are properly licensed and registered, Mayor David Miller said yesterday.

"There's no reason to own a gun in Toronto -- collector or not. If you are a collector and you have a permit, the guns need to be stored in a way that they can't be stolen. And perhaps a centralized facility of some kind could accomplish that goal," Mr. Miller told the National Post. "The law requires gun owners to have proper storage, but obviously not everyone adheres to that."

Following a spate of shootings in Toronto, the Mayor has asked city lawyers and the police to determine whether the municipality has the "legal ability" to require individuals to store their weapons at a secure facility such as a gun club.

"It's a very serious issue and I don't have all the answers to it, but I've spoken to the [Police] Chief as well as our own legal department to see what we can do," Mr. Miller said.

The Mayor has repeatedly blamed lax gun laws in the United States for some of Toronto's violence, saying half of the firearms in the city originated in the United States.

While pressing the federal government to stem the smuggling of guns across the border, Mr. Miller said steps must also be taken steps to address domestic gun problems.

"I understand there was one theft from a collector two years ago, where some of the guns were recovered after being used in murders in Toronto," he said.

Police have also speculated a theft in June of 46 handguns, along with three rifles and ammunition, from a collector in Port Hope, 100 kilometres east of the city, has contributed to the recent increase in shootings.

Mr. Miller noted several U.S. cities such as Chicago have passed ordinances restricting handgun ownership. But legal gun owners argue the new rules would only make life simpler for criminals.

"It would just put all the firearms in one place so they could all be stolen at one time," said Eric Greer of the Ontario Arms Collectors Association. "That would be a wonderful thing."

Mr. Greer added the Mayor's proposal would not prevent criminals from acquiring weapons, noting Canada enacted its first handgun registry in 1934.

"It hasn't made one iota of difference. And the reason is the people that registered their handguns don't commit the crimes. The people who commit crimes don't register their guns. It's as simple as that," he said.

Other gun owners said they are tired of being conflated with murderers and thieves.

"There are legal gun owners all over Ontario who don't go around brandishing their guns, who go through the whole rigamarole to get licensed properly," said Bill, a member of the Maple Leaf Revolver Club, who asked his last name not be used citing safety concerns. "The Mayor's not thinking properly."

He added most gun owners would support tough sentences for individuals caught using firearms to commit a crime.

"At most of the clubs, you will hear people say, 'Arrest the guy, look at the law and if the law says to throw him away for five years or 10 years, do it,' " the gun owner said.

Mr. Miller agreed the courts must be more stringent, noting individuals caught with weapons currently are routinely released on bail.

"If somebody has a gun, that's illegal, whether or not they've shot it should be irrelevant. They should be treated like they've shot it and tried to kill somebody," he said. "So when they come to court, they shouldn't get out. They should be kept in court until they're tried."

Chief Fantino has said publicly the Registry is a failure and a waste of money.

Well, Mr. Mayor, Why not just lock all the law abiding citizens up now and save some time?  Then the criminals won't have to fear us big bad gun owners!?

Lock all the criminals up you say....?

"whether or not they've shot it should be irrelevant. They should be treated like they've shot it and tried to kill somebody," he said.

This Miller guy is dangerous.

And when all the guns are locked up in one place, the .gov can just change the locks and say "Sorry! No more guns!"

Only an IDIOT would buy into that.

I agree with the earlier poster: Why not just lock everyone in prison right now and get it over with? That way there won't be any more crime at all.

Central Depot at my place! I won't even charge the city for storage fees and I'll be more than happy to drive around and pick up the guns as a public service. I'm here to do what I can for the greater good. I shall sacrifice living space so that our great city can keep guns safely tucked away in my living room!

I can't wait until civilization collapses and I can be the head guy like the bearded fellow in the Postman.  I think I will rule Canada.  "I have a GUN! and FIVE rounds of ammo!"   I think that should be enough to take over just one whole country of partial Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.  The French influence has obviously taken over the whole country.

What a bunch of bull shit.  

No one needs to have a firearm for protection?

Once they have them all in one place it will make it easy to confiscate them.  

hanging out at the town armory could be kind of fun. especailly if it includes a restauarnt, shooting range, maybe some retail shops. and when the bangers come and clean the place out, it might even be kind of funny.

Canada, America's wacky little brother to the north.  This whole proposition defies logic.  I think the cold has gotten to them.  Oops, tragic boating accident.  MJD

Damn, Canada is really a fucked up place. Thank God I don't live in that frigging country.

It is at least refreshing to see that a few folks up there still get it. But sadly, they are a minority.

One more EXCELLENT reason to never move to Canada.

First they loose the Stanley Cup and now they have lost their minds.

God Save the South and our Stanley Cup.

Thats Tampa, Florida  sunny home of the Stanley Cup for two years.

Oh and dont come here to visit it either.

Talk about "progressive"

Bastard just leaped ahead of England where you have to store your guns and ammo in separate approved safes and "The Authorities" can check them at any time without a warrant.

He just "cut out the middle man" and went directly to the State "securing" your property for you.

Fuckers.

Restrict, ban, criminalize, control, pacify.

How about this for a novel concept?  You PUNISH (or remove from society) those that actually CAUSE problems, not those that COULD.  Hell *ANYONE* MAY become a criminal but these fucktartds are all about "pre-crime".  They actually think that they can *control* what people MAY do.

What a bunch of out of touch raging egomaniacal megalomaniacs these politicians are.

"to keep an bear arms"

This is next for the US

Doesnt say keep them at home so they will interprete that to keep them in a central location.

and bears are dangerous animals..

Quoted: Well, Mr. Mayor, Why not just lock all the law abiding citizens up now and save some time?  Then the criminals won't have to fear us big bad gun owners!?

What!!!!

But, who's going to work and pay the taxes?  

Someone has to support the welfare cases (criminals), and support all the wonderful bureaucrats(lazy fucks).

Quoted: I can't wait until civilization collapses and I can be the head guy like the bearded fellow in the Postman.  I think I will rule Canada.  "I have a GUN! and FIVE rounds of ammo!"   I think that should be enough to take over just one whole country of partial Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.  The French influence has obviously taken over the whole country.

Don't be so sure.

The good people of WESTERN Canada are well armed, conservative, and know hoe to use their weapons! They also didn't submit to the gun registration scheme.

Someone needs to post that pic of the colonial guy with his head back laughing.

Put a caption in it that reads: Ha HA! Now all your guns belong to ME!

did anyone else notice that part of this guys "justification" for taking guns out of homes is that there has been a bunch of shootings lately?

is it just me, or is that the exact reason why canada SHOULD be armed...?

The Toronto Mayor is an IDIOT...

Lets see, spend gubmint mu knee on private storage

Sounds good, I've got tons of dog shit, compost piles and lots of useless things in my garage that need a home so that they won't be stolen.   And I'm not even a collector

Yeah, that mayor is certainly an asshat. The sad thing, though, is that there are people here in the 'States that would wholeheartedly agree with him even among our fellow gunowners.

Quoted: Lets see, spend gubmint mu knee on private storage Sounds good, I've got tons of dog shit, compost piles and lots of useless things in my garage that need a home so that they won't be stolen.   And I'm not even a collector

You've got "tons of dog shit" in your garage?



Crap, I thought *I* was a bad pack-rat.

Okay, how about an ARFCOM road trip? We all go to Toronto, and take over the place with a couple of Lorcins.

"Historically, registration of weapons has always led to confiscation of those weapons."

Now, they want all these people with registered guns to put them in ONE place. And this ONE place is maintained by the local government. Yeeeeeeeah....

Quoted: The Toronto Mayor is an IDIOT...

and a TYRANT.  

Fucking Socialist!
They wont stop until all Canadians (Americans too) are all slaves to the state.

Quoted: Quoted: Lets see, spend gubmint mu knee on private storage Sounds good, I've got tons of dog shit, compost piles and lots of useless things in my garage that need a home so that they won't be stolen.   And I'm not even a collector You've got "tons of dog shit" in your garage? Crap, I thought *I* was a bad pack-rat.

No, I only keep the composte piles in my garage.  The other stuff and dog shit stay in the front yard under the Pontiac on blocks.

Mayor David Miller should be hanged by his neck from a lamp post in the town square and left to rot.

* cheerfully crossing Toronto off vacation list *

Quoted: Someone needs to post that pic of the colonial guy with his head back laughing. Put a caption in it that reads: Ha HA! Now all your guns belong to ME!

===============
No, someone needs to post a picture of this guy with his head back......with his neck snappedand stretched out in a noose.

Registration == Confiscation

Man, I just do not understand liberals and socialists, where the f*ck do they come up with their ideas?

I mean who the f*ck do they think they are, wanting to willy nilly inflict their beliefs on other people, willingly or not.

This is one of the reasons I hate them so...I mean I just want to be left alone to do what I want, and I want to leave others alone to do what they want. You want to be gay? Fine knock yourself out...as long as you don't try to inflict your lifestyle upon me, or demand special treatment because of it, butt hump your buddy all you want.

You don't like or want to own guns...more power to you. I am not trying to force you into owning one, anyway, more for me. Just because you don't like them, don't f*ck with mine. Leave me alone.

Don't like crime...well, who does...try punishing the criminals and fighting crime by going after them, not law abiding citizens who aren't doing anything wrong. I mean WTF...if I own a gun, and it is STOLEN and used in a crime, is that my or the guns fault? I mean if it wasn't for some CRIMINAL scumbag stealing it in the first place, there would be no problem. Stop the criminal to begin with, the gun would never be stolen.

This f*cker deserves to meet some baseball wielding criminals who will do what they do......personally I'd just stand and watch, and afterward go up to him and whisper into a smashed skull..."maybe you should've banned bats too..."

Quoted: "Historically, registration of weapons has always led to confiscation of those weapons." Now, they want all these people with registered guns to put them in ONE place. And this ONE place is maintained by the local government. Yeeeeeeeah....

LOL, it's like firearms confiscation for the lazy:

Aide: "Hey mayor, its gonna be too much trouble to go around and round up all these guns. Wouldn't it be nice if the gunowners did it for us?"

Mayor: "I've got an idea..."

i work for a canadian company here in alaska and all the canadians i work with are all for driving over there and kicking his ass. when they come here to the states they really are surprized at what we can own. when they get their green card the first thing they buy is a handgun. they love this place!

Quoted: One more EXCELLENT reason to never move to Canada.

What? I thought we had decided to flee there when Hitlery Clinton was elected! Of course, Mexico will soon be a possibility. Recent poll indicated 40% of Mexicans wanted to move to the U.S. Unless they were polled in absentia, it should empty out soon. Here there are great dove shoots there.

What an Asshat.

Quoted: Okay, how about an ARFCOM road trip? We all go to Toronto, and take over the place with a couple of Lorcins.

Can I run the dea, work re-education camps for the liberals?

Quoted: I can't wait until civilization collapses and I can be the head guy like the bearded fellow in the Postman.  I think I will rule Canada.  "I have a GUN! and FIVE rounds of ammo!"   I think that should be enough to take over just one whole country of partial Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.  The French influence has obviously taken over the whole country.

Toronto is a cheese eating influence.....



I seriously doubt they will try that crap out west, we will just tell them to FOAD, No-One is stroing my guns but me, plain and simple. Hell, if they made me store them with them I might have to register all my unregistered guns, and that ain't acceptable



Why haven't y'all invaded Eastern Canada yet?

The way I feel about all this anti-gun crap.

Its not about making the city safer or making sure guns cant be stolen. Most people in toronto dont own guns and dont know shit about them. All this mayor has on his mind when saying this crap is to give the public the illusion that this is going to make them safer. People in toronto pick up the paper read this article and think "gee that mayors a great guy always looking out for our safty, making sure theres no guns for criminals to shoot and rob us with, it will be much better if no one has a gun." So they start to like him more and hell get votes or his approval rating goes up. All antigun crap is about gettting the support of people and making them think your doing a good job at making them safer. Nothing else. They will do what ever they can to get votes and support. Its their job. They need to feed their famlies too, you  
 would do your job any way you had to legally to keep it and make a profit, even lie a bit or exaggerate the truth. Companies do it all time. Its just bussiness

Quoted: Once they have them all in one place it will make it easy to confiscate them they've already been confiscated.

Fixed

Its just amazing how libs only solution is to punish law abiding citizens for the actions of criminals!  

Quoted: Its just amazing how libs only solution is to punish law abiding citizens for the actions of criminals!

Marylands own Attorney General, author of "A Farewell to Guns", even admitted that criminals don't obey laws anyway!  

Quoted: Mr. Miller noted several U.S. cities such as Chicago have passed ordinances restricting handgun ownership.

Mr. Miller should also look at the fact that guns are still used in shitcago by criminals, even though us law-abiding folks aren't worthy enough to own them... unless we were residents, owned them, and registered them prior to 1989.

This idea has been floated before.... It didn't go anywhere then and I don't think it will fly now...
The whole firearms mess up here if a federal program. It is not up to cities to tell anyones where to store their guns. The "Firearms Act" has the regs. that dictate where your guns are to be kept. ie your residence....
The mayor is just spouting this crap to try to look like he's doing someyhing about the "gun issue" in T.O.  It isn't even a gun issue... It's a gang-banger issue.
All they have to do is arrest/charge/convict the shooters and the problem will go away, but nooo that's too difficult
Instead go after the thousands of target shooters and hunters who haven't ever been the problem...