Toronto's Mayor Miller to Close last Pistol Shooting Ranges in City

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LanceOregon

Moderator
A fatal shooting involving a handgun was recently committed in Toronto. What was unusual in the case was that the handgun was a legally registered weapon, owned by someone with no previous criminal background. The mayor of Toronto, David Miller, believes that this is clear evidence that the actual legal sport of shooting poses a danger to the general public. Consequently, he is currently working to have all pistol shooting clubs and ranges within the city permanently shutdown.

Here is what the mayor said in a press conference: “After John O’Keefe’s tragic killing, I don’t think there’s any defense for sport shooting to be allowed any more,” he said. “It’s a hobby that creates danger to others.”

Under Canada's extremely strict handgun control laws, in order for a person to be able to legally take their handguns outside of their home, they need to obtain a firearms transport license. However, in order to have such a transport license, one has to belong to an official gun club. By closing all gun clubs within the city, Toronto citizens would thus no longer be able to enjoy their shooting sports, as their guns could never leave their house.

As it is, handgun laws are already so bad in Toronto, that the only two pistol ranges left in the city only allow airguns and .22 caliber rimfire pistols to be used. So only people owning actual target pistols shoot there. In fact, some members of Canada's current Olympic team, use these ranges to practice for the upcoming summer Olympics.

Meanwhile, Mayor Miller is also lobbying for a nation-wide ban on handgun ownership, much like what is currently in place in Great Britain.

I guess the inevitable end result of gun control is for guns to end up eventually being banned?

Here are links to news stories about this:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080530.wlgunclub30/BNStory/lifeMain/home

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/05/27/172091.aspx

And here is another story about the original shooting that has provoked this outcry for further restrictions on handguns in Canada:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...-mother-of-toronto-shooting-suspect-says.aspx


Here is a photo of a member of one of the clubs that is to be shutdown practicing:


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How can we help? I already sent him some clarification of facts emails, with no response of course.
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Do you believe that Miller's opinion on sport shooting can be changed??

I think he has already made up his mind.

It is amazing how just one single irresponsible gun owner can be used to brand all gun owners as dangerous.

You know, I remember when the last handgun law was put into effect in Great Britain, totally banning the sport there. By that time, only .22 rimfire pistols could be owned. Just as in Canada, you had to belong to a shooting club and be licensed with background checks. In addition, though, you even had to store your handgun at the club. Home ownership had already been banned.

When this law was passed, it was hailed as ending a dangerous threat to the people. Yet, the only real effect it had was to end the sport of target shooting with handguns in the UK.

Now Canada appears to be going down the same slippery slope.

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I live in the Detroit area, and for five years I lived less than two miles from Canada; just across the Detroit River. All we ever hear around here is how nice it is in Canada. How wonderfully perfect a utopia it is. And violent and or gun crime is lower there. It has nothing to do with guns. There used to be, and still are, many guns in Canada, and the gun crime isn't as high. It's cultural.

You go to the big city, though, and even in Canada you have to be careful. Toronto is sold as a clean, safe city to visit. If you stick to the parts in the brochure it is. But I'll tell you this: in the five years I lived in Detroit, I never saw anyone who had been beaten as brutally as the guy who got his hat handed to him in Toronto. Me and some friends who I was visiting with were helping direct traffic around the guy, who had collapsed in the middle of a main thoroughfare, so the ambulance could get to him. The legendary politeness of Canadians was not evident in that group of inconvenienced Torontonians, I can tell you. The violence stems from the culture, not the availability of guns.

I don't think this Mayor Miller believes a word he is saying. He didn't see this shooting and have a revelation about gun sports, he was looking for this shooting. He knows, as all socialists do, that whenever you wish to make the next move in rights reduction, you need a catalyst. He decided some time ago that closing the ranges was his next step, and he was just waiting for the event that would allow him to sway public opinion. This just fell in his lap.
 
Is there an effort underway to remove the mayor? Surely they're not letting him get away with this.
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He was re-elected to his 2nd 4 year term as mayor in 2006, which he won by a whopping 24%. He is a member of the New Democrat Party, one of the most liberal in Canada.

He was born in San Francisco to parents who were British citizens. They later moved to Canada. He holds triple citizenship in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

The fact is that Toronto has become an extremely cosmopolitan city. The majority of its citizens were born outside of Canada, and are thus immigrants, just like David. The simple fact is that this huge immigrant population has no tradition of gun ownership to maintain. Most have come from countries were private ownership of handguns is not allowed.

The same thing is going to happen to our own nation. As immigration continues to grow and grow, a smaller and smaller percentage of Americans will even know what the 2nd Amendment really is, much less care about owning guns.

My son's generation is probably going to be the last to enjoy gun ownership here in the USA. I serious doubt that any potential grandkids that I might have will ever be able to enjoy shooting or hunting.

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Good Range Close to Toronto in US

I don't know how they do it, but I shoot in North Tonawanda New York at the Niagara Gun Range, and I was told shooters from Toronto drive down. It'd be about a 90 min drive, maybe 2 hrs. Very close to Niagara Falls. http://www.niagaragunrange.com/

Great range, only public range in the area, state of the art set up. US Customs uses it as training range.

You can shoot just about anything there ammo-wise, including high-power rifles and of course pistols.

$17/hr, not cheap but worth it, they sell ammo at very good prices and good selection + rent out both pistols and long guns.

So, how you get across the border with all those regs I don't know but some Torontonians apparently are.

Welcome to more!

(As for your Mayor. He's punishing all the innocent for the sake of the few guilty. That's why - however imperfect they sometimes seem - we have a Supreme Court.

Thought Canada did also, if so, someone should start knocking at their door.)
 
So, how you get across the border with all those regs I don't know but some Torontonians apparently are.
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I think that the government is much more worried about Americans crossing the border with guns, with their own citizens going in the opposite direction.

You know, that is actually quite a long drive, just to be able to shoot at a reasonable gun range.

The problem is that Canadians must belong to a local shooting club, in order to be able to own and transport a handgun. So if you close down all of the clubs, you end up with a defacto handgun ban, which is exactly what Mayor Miller wants.

This is yet another backorder attack on gun rights, much like the current calls for ammunition controls here in the USA.

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"...to Close last Pistol Shooting Ranges in City..." Nope. Only two ranges that are on City owned property. There are at least three privately owned indoor handgun ranges within the city limits. It's not a done deal either.
"...the New Democrat Party, one of the most liberal in Canada..." Socialist, not liberal. The current leader of the federal NDP and his MP wife were caught living in Public Housing(low income people, usually single mothers or mentally ill/handicapped) while sitting on TO's City Council. No fraud charges were ever laid. Gives you an idea how they think.
"...maybe 2 hrs..." Yep. However, gas costs $1.27Cdn or more per litre. Roughly $5.08Cdn per gallon. Most people just aren't driving far these days. Plus an enormous amount of BS from your Homeland Security.
"...effort underway to remove..." There's no provision in Canadian law to remove any politician from office. As in there's no such thing as impeaching a Canadian politician at any level. A politician can get elected as a candidate from one Party and decide to change Parties without having to resign their seat. It's usually a Federal thing though. Municipal politics is not based on political Parties.
 
I actually remember the drive to Niagara Falls from Toronto taking less than 2 hours. Maybe 1 hr 40 minutes, but that was only to the Canadian side of the falls. But that was on a weekend, perhaps when traffic is less.

And you still have to drive back home. And go through customs both ways. So I would roughly estimate 3 1/2 hours of total actual driving, plus any delays going through customs.

If I had to go to such lengths to shoot, I certainly would not do that much shooting.

Thanks for the info about the city owned vs private ranges. The press reports that I have read said nothing about that.

I'm shocked that you still have any city owned ranges at this point. I was raised in California near a nice range that was owned and operated by the local county government. It was where I learned how to shoot rifles and pistols. However, it has been closed now for many years.

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The sad part of this story is that it can happen here too if the antis continue their efforts and are not challanged at every turn by gun owning citizens.
 
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