Sin City

Still no Milton news so I take you to Toronto, the scene of recent gunplay. The media has colourfully named this activity as the "Summer of the Gun". Now this is a very touchy subject so you might not want to read this if your easily offended. I don't want any emails.

Ok, rant mode on.

Every week we hear about another shooting in Toronto. This Friday alone (Sept 16th) there where five shootings. At least two where fatal. Perhaps in some morbidly perverse way, I hope the homicide rate goes up to knock it into the thick skulls of politicians that Toronto is not a safe city anymore. Toronto police stated that there are at least 70 street gangs in Toronto with about 2000 members.
Who are these gangs, well they are mostly black, and mostly Jamaican. They are usually lower class. They join these gangs for a variety of reasons, both social and economic. Many don't have strong male roll models so they join gangs seeking that. Some just think its cool to be a gangsta. Others do it because they can make more in a day pimping or selling drugs than most people doing an honest job can. It's really nothing new.

Now Toronto's government has some ideas. More jobs for black youth. I think this is countered by my last statement above. If I can make $1000 a day selling weed, why would I get a job for $10-20 an hour. That's why so many gangstas are driving around in BMWs. They may be poor before they join but they are not poor after.
Others suggest more social programs. These do work to an extent but they don't change the culture that pushes people into gangs. Better education is the key. Many black students are lied to, through their own culture, that they will just be kept down by the racist white man and that there is no point in trying to compete with him. Racism is a cop-out. Someone in the TDS thought it would be a good idea to have black only schools. He was forced to eat some Jim Crow after making that statement. These wouldn't work as they'd just reinforce the above lie. That they'd never be able to function in a school with white kids and white teachers. Dalton McGuninty had dismissed the idea as dumb, and he knows dumb ideas.

Policing is also the key. This leaves Toronto's mayor in a mixed up state. You see David Miller is a devote Marxist. It's very evident in the way he talks and the way he tries to run things. He doesn't want more cops. Marxists believe that if there where no state police, then the people would self-police, the world would be better. Unfortunately this has never worked. If this where true than how do explain the KGB in the USSR. Miller did not want to hire any more cops but has since been forced too. The problem is, a lot of Torontonians share his views. They don't trust cops. They think that all the police are out to do it victimize the innocent. They make it policy to go out and harrass young black men. BS, plain BS. I would not want to be a police officer in this day and age as it must be the most stressful job on the planet. You arrest a guy for comitting a serious crime, he gets out on bail or probation a few days later and comitts another serious crime. Then you get to be called a racist for arresting him in the first place. The legal system doesn't help. It's OK to put someone like Martha Stuart away for getting a stock tip but rape, trafficing and attempted murder do not deserve serious punishments? Anyone carrying an illegal weapon for the purposes of crime should get manditory jail time. We must deter the use of guns and knives by putting people who use them away for a long time. Another thing, why does Farmer Joe have to register his hunting rifle to keep coyotes from stealing his chickens but these gangstas are carrying illegal weapons with no conciquences? Farmer Joe will get punished if he doesn't register his gun.