“Gun-toting Yanks” not welcome in Toronto

“Gun-toting Yanks” not welcome in Toronto
By Arthur Weinreb Monday, June 2, 2008

Adam Vaughan, Guns, Americans Toronto mayor David Miller announced measures to be taken to keep legally owned guns out of Toronto, last week. The proposal calls for the use of zoning and other bylaws to prevent new gun clubs, firing ranges and firearm manufacturers from opening within city limits. The city also intends to cancel leases that Toronto holds with two gun clubs and it will be illegal for anyone to store firearms anywhere within Toronto’s boundaries.

As a justification for these measures, the mayor points to the murder of John O’Keefe a few months ago. O’Keefe was innocently walking by a strip club on Toronto’s main street when he was killed by a disgruntled patron who was trying to take out a bouncer.

This was one of those rare incidents where the alleged shooter had a legal right to possess the murder weapon. Mayor Miller conveniently leaves out the fact that the alleged killer was carrying the firearm illegally at the time of the shooting as well as the fact that he belonged to a gun club that was located outside of the city. If Miller’s proposals had been in effect, there would have been no difference. But facts should never get in the way of ideology.

The mayor has enough toadies on the city’s executive committee as well as on council to ensure the passage of these measures. The major effect that these new laws will have will be to drive gun related businesses out of Toronto and into the suburbs where many businesses have already gone to avoid high taxes and other negative aspects of the city.

In response to the mayor’s proposals, the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action and the Canadian Shooting Sports Association have called for a boycott of Canada’s largest city. They are urging tourists, primarily American gun owners, not to come to Toronto (http://www.torontothebad.com).

Who knew that keeping American tourists out of Toronto is actually what Toronto City Council wants? On Friday, the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily circulation newspaper published a letter to the editor from Councillor Adam Vaughan, a left wing supporter of David Miller. Vaughan used the letter to justify the city’s reasons for driving gun related businesses out of the city. He also mentioned the letters that have been coming in to Toronto City Hall since these proposals were announced. Speaking of these letters he wrote,

My favourite letters are the ones being sent from the U.S. Gun owners there are now urging a boycott of Toronto. Considering that most of the problems with guns on our streets emanate from south of the border, I couldn’t be happier. If all it took was closing a couple of shooting ranges to stop gun-toting Yanks from coming to our city, maybe we should have shut the doors on these clubs years ago.

The councillor could not have made it any clearer. Americans are not welcome in Toronto – STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HERE!

The reality is that there is no appreciable violent crime in Canada that is committed by Americans. Nor are Americans primarily responsible for smuggling guns into Canada; that is done by Canadian criminals who politicians like David Miller and Adam Vaughan are too busy crying tears over to take any action. Vaughan’s statement is nothing more than classic America bashing that is so popular with Canada’s left.

All of this comes at a time when tourism to Toronto is down. A combination of heightened security measures at the border, the rise of the Canadian dollar and higher fuel prices have acted to reduce the number of American tourists. Tourism Toronto even hired Russell Peters as a global ambassador for tourism in an attempt to increase the numbers. Mr. Peters is a comedian by profession; how utterly appropriate for the city that has now become a joke.

So to all our American readers – don’t ever come to Toronto. You’re simply not wanted here.