TheGunBlog.ca — Mike McCormack, the head of the Toronto police workers union, publicly rejected the mayor’s calls to prohibit firearms for at least the second time, telling CBC News that a handgun ban would have “no impact” on murderers.
“There’s no way in my world or any world I know that this would have an impact on somebody who’s going to go out and buy an illegal gun and use it to kill another person or shoot another person,” McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, told the news organization in an article published Sept. 3.
“It really has no impact on the psyche of a gunman,” he was quoted as saying. It’s “a notional gesture at best.”
The outgoing mayor of Toronto, John Tory, is urging the federal government to pass new laws to ban handguns and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns from federally licensed users across Canada.
McCormack is at least the fourth senior police leader to say he doesn’t support new prohibitions on men and women with firearm licences.
Last week, the prime minister asked the city’s former police chief, now a federal minister, to “lead an examination of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons in Canada, while not impeding the lawful use of firearms by Canadians.”
“It’s a more complex issue and people are just looking for an easy fix,” McCormack told the CBC. “It’s not just saying a full gun ban is going to make this magic panacea. It’s a much more complex problem that really requires an honest dialogue.”
McCormack shared the CBC article on Twitter in his first tweet since saying Aug. 23 that “A gun ban is not the solution.”
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