Is it me, or are the political parties only addressing one aspect of the problem of gun violence in Canada? About a week ago, Paul Martin addressed the people of TOronto claiming that those who shot the innocent 15 year-old girl in Toronto were marginalized people; those who were neglected by Canada. Stephen Harper has touted tougher prison times and sentances to make sure that criminals actually serve time for their crime. To me, both of these views are erroneous in that they do not realize that gun violence is a culmination of many factors.

First of all, many of these gun crimes we have seen in Toronto and Vancouver have been committed by immigrants who have moved into the country. When immigrating, it is not uncommon for immigrants to take their culture with them, including their cultures of violence of their home country (just look at the number of annual murders in Jamaica for its population). Now I am not saying we should ban all immigrants, as they are what make our country so good and so rich in culture, but a more in-depth screening of people entering our country could help weed out some of these terrorists that have been shooting each other on the streets.

Second of all, tougher sentancing is a must. Here I would have to agree with Stephen Harper that tougher sentancing is needed, and criminals must actually serve those sentances. Today, a murderer gets nothing more than a slap on the wrist for his/her crime. The Conservatives suggest making minimum sentances for gun crimes; I myself think they should go one stop further. Killing another human is pretty much the worst crimes/sin that one can commit against another person. God commanded murderers to be put to death, as one human does not have the write to kill another human which GOd has created (with certain exceptions of course, ie. the government may, wars, etc.). Because of this, I think that we should make the punishment for murder far more severe than any party is suggesting; maybe even a little ridiculous in its length i.e. 20 years minimum sentance with no possbility of parole. In this way we can keep the thugs on the streets (who don't care about what the government says) in jail, while deterring youths from getting involved in gangs via the punishments involved if implicated. I think that the government has forgotten the fact that law carries a pedagogical aspect to it, that is to teach people what is right, and prevent them from doing wrong. With harsher sentancing, I think we could help further solve the problem of gun violence in Canada.

Thirdly, social and after-school programs are needed to keep the children "off the street". I would have to agree with Paul Martin to some degree that some families and children from our poorest neighbourhoods are neglected; I have seen it first hand in Hamilton. After-school programs do wonders with children; having a place to go to where a kid can be him/herself while not having to worry about their parents or other siblings is desperately wanted by them. Inside, many of these kids are crying for help, and as much as they hit you, call you names, or get into trouble during these programs, you know inside that they secretely love being there; it is the highlight of their day and week. Maybe society has let them down in some sense and by increasing after-school programs for young teenagers (while also giving a place to go for older kids) we may be able to further prevent them from becoming involved in gangs.

By taking the above hollistic approach to solving the problem of gun violence in Canada, I think we can make a real difference. As it stands, all political parties seem to only grasp one or two aspects of it, therefore decreasing the chances that their specific solutions are going to solve the problem. Until they recognize this, I do not think we are going to see any decrease in the amount of gun violence in Toronto and the Rest of Canada; it seems like the gun violence will all the more become more frequent on our streets.

Craig, see where you're comign from with this growing problem that we are facing in Toronto, but I believe the real issue is found in your third point. The majority of the people involved in these gun crimes are young Canadian citizens who have far too much time on their hands, too much energy to waste, and no positive outlet where they would be able to release it. By scrapping extra-curricular sports, and other social programs, the government might as well buy the kids guns and place them in their hands. The criminal code is far too lax to be any real deterrent to these kids and parents do not face any consequences for their children's actions. So the solution is ultimately found in Christ, but reintroducing social programs for the youth and forcing parents to be responsible and do their jobs would go a long was in reducing the amount of gun violence.
We could also look at the gangsta mentality that is being promoted through the rise in rap music, which has coincides with the decling/death of hip-hop. Jail is just street-cred and in Canada, you're in and out without much fuss. There are some who refuse to blame the music and personalities behind it, but I believe that they are just as responsible. Anything negative can be a detriment to others, especially if it's all they know. Andy McGrudger makes a great point at showing this in a more recent run of his daily comic strip. Gangstas breed thugs who act hard on camera but cry when faced with real drama. It's easy to front when you can go home to your plush house, but when you're sluggin' it out on the street, hustling for real, starving for real, and ghetto-po' for real, being hard and acting hard to the point where you actually pull the trigger and take a life, that's real.
So, it's not necessarily the terrorists in Canada, nor is it the cultural mosaic/melting pot, It's the lack of positive outlets and hard consequences that are making it really easy to pull a trigger and continue to do so.
Thanks for bringing this up Craig and I hope more people like you with raise their voices on the issue.