Wednesday, October 26, 2005

High Level Diplomacy That We'll Never See   posted by TangoMan @ 10/26/2005 02:03:00 AM
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Kate over at Outside the Beltway has a unique analysis for solving Canada's problems with handguns. She notes the futility of Prime Minister Martin asking Secretary Rice to have the Americans do something about gun smuggling. She notes that the Prime Minister's office is preparing a series of gun-control initiatives but that it is unlikely that a meeting with the Jamaican Prime Minister about restricting the supply a trigger pullers will be unveiled:



No less than 47 of the Jamaican-linked gang were arrested and more than 1,325 charges were laid.

The gang was the longtime rival of the Crips, another organized-crime street gang with Jamaican background.

So, what happens the day after the police and local politicians congratulate themselves for a successful investigation and massive raids?

Why, on Friday -- the very next day -- there were five shootings, with three of them fatal.

[ . . . ]

So, what do we do in such a discouraging situation?

Well, you just can't keep sitting back and coming up with excuses. Such as Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty's chant about "American guns on Canadian streets," with the full backing of NDP socialist David Miller -- known to many as Mayor Useless. And there's Toronto rookie police Chief Bill Blair claiming that half the weapons used here by criminals are smuggled from the U.S.

However, on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins knocked those claims by noting that most of the guns coming from the U.S. are actually bought there by Canadians and smuggled back here. In other words, where are Canadian customs and other border-watching authorities?

The truth is that Canada continues to suffer from a longstanding policy of federal Liberal governments going back to 1965. That's when the Pearson-Trudeau government loosened the Immigration Act to make it much easier for previously unqualified foreigners to enter the country and stay on as new citizens. The criminal elements came right along with them. And the Liberals got most of their votes.

The Liberals also weakened the criminal justice system. They got rid of capital punishment, provided early parole, built prisons that are more like country homes and introduced a Young Offenders Act that made youth crime a sick joke.

Former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino pushed for a mandatory 10-year sentence for anyone using a gun to commit a crime. But he ended up being pushed out by Mayor Miller, who prefers the soft, social-worker approach in handling criminals.