“There will be no more gun clubs on City of Toronto property and there will be no new gun clubs in the City of Toronto ever,” said Toronto Mayor David Miler.
I previously discussed this ill-advised city ordinance here, and the same reasoning that applied then applies now:
This is being done under the guise of preventing “gun crime”, when in fact Toronto’s anti gun laws would have the opposite effect. Instead of armed citizens who are well trained in the use of their firearms for self defense, Toronto would have disarmed or poorly trained citizens. The citizens who kept their guns would not have the knowledge and practice needed to defend themselves, leading to less effective self defense, and more stray bullets.
Toronto’s anti-gun laws would also have and adverse effect upon gun safety for children. Rather than being taught that guns are a tool to be respected and never handled except under direct parental supervision, Toronto’s children will gain little to no exposure to guns. Then, when they find one in a closet or under a bed, they will be fascinated by it, just as children are fascinated by any other new object. And that is why children inadvertently shoot themselves or others — because they don’t know better and because children naturally want to play with objects that are denied to them. In short, an anti-gun culture is bad for child safety.
It is also important to note that closing down gun ranges won’t affect criminals, since they don’t tend to go to gun ranges. Gun ranges are frequented by gun and self defense enthusiasts, who are law abiding citizens, since felons can’t lawfully own or fire a gun, and wouldn’t be allowed to use a gun range. Criminals also don’t tend to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on gun education and training, which is evident by the number of stray bullets that hit innocent citizens rather than the criminal’s intended target.
Nor does closing gun stores stop criminals from getting guns, since criminals tend to purchase their guns on the black market. This is because convicted felons cannot buy guns legally, so they turn to black market dealers who tend to import stolen guns.