Mayor Tory calls for tightened gun controls.

[terrym]

Some very good posts here. I think what is clear is that as gun owners we mostly all welcome gun control. I happen to think the PAL/RPAL system is a good start. Not perfect but being a National database is quite useful for LEO. Our safe storage laws are stringent which isn't a bad thing either. Not fool proof but nothing is. I find it interesting that a Toronto bureaucrat like Blair states additional rules won't help. Encouraging actually. The problem isn't guns it's those who use them For crime. Not that it's ever going to be possible but even if you were able to remove all guns the gangs would just transition to knives. They are criminals and a gun is just a tool. The other problem is that the left who at this point rule Canada are very anti gun and would/will confiscate them all if they could pull it off. Not saying I would want to live in a country like the US where soccer moms shoot at each other in Walmart parking lots but legal gun owners up here tend to be far more stable. The registry is not dead. The database wasn't completely destroyed, I don't believe that for s second. The RCMP do whatever they want and always have. Who would take them to task? The army?
i think John Tory is about to impose tolls, tax increases and is just looking to deflect and change the channel. Legal gun owners are just low hanging fruit to a politician especially in large cities like Toronto.

[JBen]

Community Policing Gilroy

If you had to put your thumb on a period or era, even though you have, where things really started to "blow up". Would that not be the gangs that started emerging out of Malvern? I want to say around 1990?

[JBen]

Terry, like Welsh I think the registry is dead. Is it "possible" in 10 years time someone other than JT will try again? Sure it is.
But as much as we "gripe" about the left or rather the very pro GC crowd, we can see signs that both the Politicians and LEO are instead finally starting to key in on "actual" problems, rather than some of the usual shot gun approaches. They are trying to crack down on smuggling, they are going after the gangs.

If New York city can get it done, so can Toronto.
As welsh just said above of all people Blair............

[Gilroy]

Community Policing Gilroy

If you had to put your thumb on a period or era, even though you have, where things really started to "blow up". Would that not be the gangs that started emerging out of Malvern? I want to say around 1990?

Yeh all the original gangs derive from Jamaica as the Jamaican posse,s migrated up the eastern seaboard bringing crack with them.
Everybody was from the same neighborhoods or parishes in Jamaica, Trenchtown,Trivoli Gardens,Spangler. The second generation Canadian born just took their names from where they lived,but still had the old home family connections.We can thank the Jamaican political system and gunmen who work for both opposition parties.We can also thank the interference of both the CIA and KGB who supported different sides in Jamaica in the old days.They were the ones who organised the original political gangs that developed into criminal posse,s, the top boss always insulated.Street runners carrying rocks of crack,lieutenants bringing in the 8 balls,and then the top guys.That is why Alister COOKE managed to stay on top of the drug empire in Jamaica for several decades with the assistance of his own Government and other outside agencies. But yeh 1990 would be as good a starting point.

[terrym]

Terry, like Welsh I think the registry is dead. Is it "possible" in 10 years time someone other than JT will try again? Sure it is.
But as much as we "gripe" about the left or rather the very pro GC crowd, we can see signs that both the Politicians and LEO are instead finally starting to key in on "actual" problems, rather than some of the usual shot gun approaches. They are trying to crack down on smuggling, they are going after the gangs.

If New York city can get it done, so can Toronto.
As welsh just said above of all people Blair............

John Tory ( the subject of this thread ) is doing exactly the opposite of what you just said though. He isn't saying he wants to reinvent policing and bring back community based patrols. He is attacking licensed/legal owners. If Wynne thought she could benefit she would jump on too. She may yet as it plays to here base also. None of this has to do with crime prevention. It's all about hanging on to political jobs.

[Gilroy]

Terry, like Welsh I think the registry is dead. Is it "possible" in 10 years time someone other than JT will try again? Sure it is.
But as much as we "gripe" about the left or rather the very pro GC crowd, we can see signs that both the Politicians and LEO are instead finally starting to key in on "actual" problems, rather than some of the usual shot gun approaches. They are trying to crack down on smuggling, they are going after the gangs.




If New York city can get it done, so can Toronto.
As welsh just said above of all people Blair............

Billy Blair and I worked in Regent Park as beat COPS for a number of years.His old partner was Kim Derry. Both these guys were very good street officers and both went onto 5 District drugs.These guys went up through the ranks Hold Up Sqaud, Intelligence,Fraud..
Billy was very well educated and he does understand what goes on in the street.Never in Toronto,s history have they had a Chief who was so well rounded.He was was ambitious and probably a lot more political than I ever imagined, but he is not stupid.He will be a very helpful and steadying influence on Ralph Goodale and this man is also not stupid. The secret for the gun lobby is to make sure we have our representative at each and every meeting they might have with the Gun Control Coalition.

[Gilroy]

John Tory ( the subject of this thread ) is doing exactly the opposite of what you just said though. He isn't saying he wants to reinvent policing and bring back community based patrols. He is attacking licensed/legal owners. If Wynne thought she could benefit she would jump on too. She may yet as it plays to here base also. None of this has to do with crime prevention. It's all about hanging on to political jobs.

John Tory is also doing the exact opposite of what he said on road tolls.

A Star writer two Sundays ago wrote a column on property taxes.Toronto is one of the lowest property tax rates in the GTA ,Oakville,Pickering,Oshawa all far higher.So instead of telling the truth and saying he should put up Toronto taxes he is messing with drivers.I agree they all want to hang onto their jobs.But in the next election this will not happen.

[JBen]

I have "mixed" thoughts on Blair. Sort of knew his record as a street cop was good....Then he entered politics. Will just say my opinion of him nose dived following the G20. He put his political career ahead of both the people and his own guys by throwing one or two under the bus.

Kim Derry. Not sure why but that name rings a bell. I knew the some of the guys at 55 sort of (lol). It sometimes surprises me when I think about some of my old haunts during the late 70s and early 80s. Was a time when spent the evening in one of the cockroach infested units, then wander through RP well after sunset, and into the wee hours. Can honestly say I never felt threatened or accosted. Fast forward some years when I was spending time around the Jungle ( the project south of Yorkdale Mall), I want to say late 80s, maybe the early 90s. This would have been around the time Cops were started to wear vest. Some did/some didn't. Not a single cop would pursue anyone into the jungle at least not without back up.

[terrym]

John Tory is also doing the exact opposite of what he said on road tolls.

A Star writer two Sundays ago wrote a column on property taxes.Toronto is one of the lowest property tax rates in the GTA ,Oakville,Pickering,Oshawa all far higher.So instead of telling the truth and saying he should put up Toronto taxes he is messing with drivers.I agree they all want to hang onto their jobs.But in the next election this will not happen.

This is the elephant in the room. Toronto have the highest level of infrastructure and services and pay disproportionately less taxes than most. No politician has the balls to go down that road though.

[Gilroy]

I have "mixed" thoughts on Blair. Sort of knew his record as a street cop was good....Then he entered politics. Will just say my opinion of him nose dived following the G20. He put his political career ahead of both the people and his own guys by throwing one or two under the bus.

R. The guy he threw under the bus probably had it coming, he was a Copper from Northern Ireland and was famous for going around saying "the only good catholic is a dead one".I think he tried to use the methods he deployed in Northern Ireland to Canada.The blame Harper for insisting on having the meeting in Toronto in the first place.

Kim Derry. Not sure why but that name rings a bell. I knew the some of the guys at 55 sort of (lol). It sometimes surprises me when I think about some of my old haunts during the late 70s and early 80s. Was a time when spent the evening in one of the cockroach infested units, then wander through RP well after sunset, and into the wee hours. Can honestly say I never felt threatened or accosted. Fast forward some years when I was spending time around the Jungle ( the project south of Yorkdale Mall), I want to say late 80s, maybe the early 90s. This would have been around the time Cops were started to wear vest. Some did/some didn't. Not a single cop would pursue anyone into the jungle at least not without back up.

R. I bought my own second chance vest back in 1977, so I might have been ahead of the curve.The reasons why other divisions had problems in their projects is that the troops either were not sent in or would not go in.The only back up I had was my partner and Smith and Wesson, but plenty of days I walked in RP solo, spent most of my day in and around the Root Burger and Belshaw Place.