Miller seeks to ban guns with bylaw

TheStar.com - GTA - Miller seeks to ban guns with bylaw
May 26, 2008
John spears
City Hall Bureau

Mayor David Miller wants guns out of Toronto — and he's backing a tough new bylaw that would ban the manufacture and warehousing of guns in the city.

And while Miller says handguns are the particular target of the proposed bylaw, a staff report doesn't distinguish between handguns and rifles and shotguns used in hunting.

The bylaw, proposed in a staff report, would give the city zoning powers to restrict or ban the manufacture and warehousing of firearms.

Miller said he wants to add ammunition to the bylaw as well.

And he had strong words about gun ownership, referring to the recent shooting of John O'Keefe, who was killed on Yonge St. by a stray bullet fired from a legally owned handgun.

"After John O'Keefe's tragic killing, I don't think there's any defence for sports shooters any more," Miller said.

"It's a hobby that creates danger to others. Guns are stolen routinely from so-called legal owners. It's time that we got those guns out of Toronto."

Miller said the focus is especially on handguns.

"It's handguns that are so easily accessible to criminals, and it's handguns that so often kill people on the streets on Toronto," he said.

"It's about a value. Do we as a society value safety, or do we value a hobby that creates danger? And nobody can deny that that hobby directly results in people being shot and killed on the streets of our city. Those are the facts. And they're provable again and again and again."

A report from city staff urges the city to end leases with two gun clubs that have rifle ranges in city facilities.

The proposed bylaw would ban all firearms from being discharged in the city, except by police or the military.