Illegal guns have become easy to buy in Toronto

A gun trafficker showing his illegal product line in a big-box store parking lot in broad daylight? That’s the new reality in Toronto.

Even Mayor John Tory told reporters he was not surprised.

If you look at the year 2019, it actually make sense that a local radio talk-show host could — in just a little more than five hours — get hooked up with a seller of guns and meet to look at the merchandise.

It was a journalistic enterprise that shined a light on the ugly problem. Guns and shootings are common place in Toronto now.

Toronto has had 290 shootings so far this year — more than one shooting a day.

Of those 290 shootings, Toronto Police report there have been 438 victims.

This is up from the same time last year when there had been 279 shootings and 371 victims.

At this time in 2018, there had been 35 people killed with guns compared to 24 this year.

They are all stunning statistics and those shocking numbers go beyond the victims.

This year, Toronto Police have seized 448 firearms — guns that, according to Const. Victor Kwong, were confirmed through ballistics analysis to be “used in the commission of a crime.”

It’s out of control.

And now, from information revealed by Newstalk 1010 and popular host Yonah Budd, we now know these guns are not just being sold in dark places. Customers and sellers are going to a buy-and-sell zone just as if they were dealing in comic books or car parts.

In the Newstalk 1010 case, it was reported five guns were shown. There are many more out there.

And no handgun ban is going impact the business of criminals in the underground trade.

There is major cash in peddling illegal guns.

This was on full display June 28 when Deputy Chief James Ramer and his team brought out 23 guns seized in Project Kraken — worth a street value of $84,000 — and put them on the table.

Some were brand new; others a century old. All deadly.

“It’s all about the cash,” said Ramer.

He added smuggled guns come across the border by people abusing First Nations privileges or they’re hidden in gas tanks or other places by motorists entering Canada from the U.S.

But the people hit by these bullets are often not involved in any of that — as I have written over and over.

They are decent people who happened to be coming out of a bowling alley or innocently driving along a city street at the same time a muzzle flashes. Just like that — it’s over.

The police are working hard on this problem and all three levels of government have stepped up their efforts and financial investments to try to slow down this deadly epidemic.

And now, officers will have to start keeping an eye out — not just in the shadows but out in the light of day.
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