Ottawa Eyes Tougher Screening of Gun Owners for Mental Health, Violence

[BigTurk]

Under our present system, I thought they already had the right to do so.

They do. A simple call to the CFO is all that is needed.


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[canadaman30]

As long as the gangsters get slap on the wrist penalties for gun convictions, the violence will continue.

[rick_iles]

I have to disagree here, the gang issue is tied to poverty, not necessarily immigration. Where I grew up the majority of problems with guns and gangs was poor white kids, and rich white kids who were bored.

Now you are starting to argue with yourself! You say gang activity is a result of poverty, then turn around and say rich white kids that are bored !!! Those who have dealt with gangs know most are linked to immigration as Mike aptly posted.

[fishermccann]

Now you are starting to argue with yourself! You say gang activity is a result of poverty, then turn around and say rich white kids that are bored !!! Those who have dealt with gangs know most are linked to immigration as Mike aptly posted.

The immigration that caused it, was from many years ago, these gang members were born here, and are 2nd and 3rd generation Canadians now.

[BigTurk]

As long as the gangsters get slap on the wrist penalties for gun convictions, the violence will continue.

You are correct.
In fact part of the crime omnibus bill that Harper tabled and the PC’s voted in, made it tougher on criminals for gun crimes and criminals in general. However, most judges are partisan (because we don’t vote them in), and they failed to uphold the law.
Trudeau has done away with most of those provisions.


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[jaycee]

Interesting stat from the Ottawa Police:

"Now we're seeing a trend of maybe 50/50, if not more domestically-sourced guns as opposed to smuggled guns from the United States," he said.

All you have to do is "google " Gun Thefts In Ontario , you will come up with several pages of them , a lot in the last year /2017.

[Gilroy]

Under our present system, I thought they already had the right to do so.

They already check for the mentally ill. There is also talk of waiting periods for restricted weapons but again there pretty much is a waiting period for restricted as the CFO has to approve so not really much just talk to pretend to Liberals voters he is doing something. But I am happy if that is all he does. More money for guns and gang units I agree is good.

Having been a one of the first Provincially appointed local firearms officers I can tell you both this. An applicant can honestly apply for a PAL and self declare he/she has a history of mental illness. An applicant can apply and simply lie on this question and not declare a history.
If an applicant lies and the firearms officer uncovers the lie either through an arrest under the mental health act or a reference tells the officer, that is where the problem,s begin.If you find the applicants Doctor or Psychiatrist and ask for the required information,your not going to get it and they will quote the privacy act.Medical records are private, so an investigator would then have to apply for a search warrant for the records.
The bottom line is an investigator must prove the applicant is "a danger to themselves or others". There is no mandatory law in place right now that I am aware of that "compels a Doctor or Psychiatrist or Psychologist to reveal this concern to the police.

What we need is this to be changed in such a way that the reporting is mandatory,but as most mental Health Act,s are Provincial I cannot see this happening.Do mentally unstable people apply for firearms licenses YES. Do they lie in applications YES.

For an investigator a mentally ill person who has NOT been reported in an arrest,or other incident where the police are called,they are free right now to apply for firearms licenses and simply lie on the application. I think a lot of people over estimate how much power the police actually possess to get their job done.

[terrym]

You could also have a situation where a doctor who is against firearm ownership could sighn away a persons right to ever own one again. I also have no doubt that not every mental illness needing treatment necessitate a gun ownership ban. Lot's of questions to consider and i for some reason or other automatically don't trust government to make unbiased or professional calls on this. Way too ideology driven.

[welsh]

Not sure who these people were who said the Liberals weren't going to do anything.

Anyway, the Liberals are continuing to promise to do what they promised to do in 2015, with no action yet.

The only change from their 2015 campaign promises is hinted at in a recent iPolitics report that said Goodale had indicated the upcoming legislation would not require dealers to keep point of sale records, as promised. But iPolitics has since updated that article, so whether they are still promising to do that is unclear.

Incidentally, the claim that gang activity is an immigration problem is false. Gangs arise in marginalized communities, and immigrant communities tend to be marginalized. But we also see gangs in nonimmigrant marginalized communities. The lowest common denominator is marginalization.

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[Gilroy]

You could also have a situation where a doctor who is against firearm ownership could sighn away a persons right to ever own one again. I also have no doubt that not every mental illness needing treatment necessitate a gun ownership ban. Lot's of questions to consider and i for some reason or other automatically don't trust government to make unbiased or professional calls on this. Way too ideology driven.

I agree and there are some Psychiatrists who will not write a letter for an investigator to use in court or give an opinion either way.