Hands off our guns, Toronto!
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
184.5933
Summary
The Toronto Police Service is offering $350 to anyone who hands over their guns. Andrew Lutton explains why this is a bad idea, and why gun owners should not be participating in the buyback program. He also points out that gun ownership is not the problem, it's who owns them.
Transcript
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Yes, thanks to an announcement by Toronto Mayor John Tory, the largest city in Canada has announced a gun buyback program
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wherein if you have a handgun, the Toronto Police Service will visit your home, pick it up and give you $350 for your troubles
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regardless of whether the gun is legally or illegally owned.
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The whole point of this is for Toronto to say that it's trying to get illegal guns off the streets
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For starters, studies have shown on a number of occasions that gun buyback programs or gun amnesty programs
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have zero impact when it comes to reducing gun crime or reducing crime more broadly.
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Number one, the price that's being offered, $350, is less than the value of most handguns,
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certainly those used by gangsters, which means that if you want to sell your gun or offload it,
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you can get more money by going through other means.
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Secondly, the people that the government is supposedly targeting through these programs, gangsters,
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have their guns for a reason, because they want them.
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Now, the only people that surrender their guns for $350 under a gun buyback program
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because John Tory told them to, are little old ladies whose late husband may have had a handgun kicking around
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These are the people that are going to be getting this money.
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The government wants to say that it's doing something about gun crime
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Although you can tell they're already pretty much not confident it's going to do anything
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because John Tory is lowering expectations saying, no, no, no, don't worry.
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This is just one small piece in a broader effort against gun crime.
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Remember that last year Toronto had its homicide record.
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This is even worse than the so-called year of the gun that precipitated the last gun buyback program
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And the fact that here we are now suggests that this buyback really didn't change the fabric of organized crime in the city of Toronto.
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There was another buyback program done about four or five years ago.
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The problem with this is that it once again indicates that the city's view, the government's view,
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If you can take a bunch of handguns from little old ladies who aren't using them
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because there is a net negative number of firearms,
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you've somehow managed to get crime guns off the streets.
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The problem with guns is who owns them, not the fact that they exist in the first place.
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And the reason that I, as a gun owner, as a law-abiding gun owner who will not be participating in any such buyback,
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get my back up against the wall about this is because this is ultimately the government trying to push the needle
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to prove that anyone who owns a gun is the problem.
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That if someone who's causing no harm to anyone hands over their gun, the city is a little bit safer.
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That's not the truth because, well, my gun's not harming anyone right now,
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which means me handing it over would cause nothing.
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And don't be mistaken, even though they're giving people $350,
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not cash, it's a gift card if you've gone through the process and waited several weeks,
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but just because they're giving it does not mean that the motivation is a pure one.
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No, the motivation is to take guns, not off the streets, but out of homes.