City
Morning Brew: Junction Resident Killed due to his Anti-gang Role, Non-compliant Gun Sweep, Violent Airline Passenger Arrested, Air France Lawsuit Settled, Dismal Decade for Toronto Sports
Photo: "Good morning TO" by Nikopol_TO, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
The public is learning more about the execution-style murder that has shocked residents of the Junction. The victim, Kenneth Mark, was known in the community for his valiant efforts in anti-gang activism and supporting local youth... and police think that these very activities may be the reason why he was targeted and shot in the head outside one of his favourite pizzerias.
On a related note, some 239 guns were seized by police after a month-long sweep for "non-compliant" weapons (i.e. those that aren't properly registered or haven't had licenses renewed, etc.) that might otherwise be stolen and used by bad people for bad things. Call me cynical, but this seems like a lot of effort to invest on a tertiary problem. The real problem is guns that are already in the possession of gangs, no?
A 16-year old Barrie teen is being sought, after disappearing with a 42-year old online female friend from Texas who came up to visit him in person. When found, he's likely going to get grounded by his folks, and either heavily chastized or high-fived by his teenage friends.
A Toronto man is paying an unexpected visit to Montreal after he got into a fight with a fellow passenger on a Toronto to Frankfurt flight. The pilot made a quick, unscheduled landing in Montreal, where the suspect was first let go (the victim didn't want to press charges) but then was re-arrested and charged for disturbing the peace after continuing on his tirade. The flight continued on its way just one hour behind schedule, leaving the guy having the temper tantrum in Canada.
Remember that Air France plane that overshot the runway when landing at Pearson airport four years ago? A class-action lawsuit has finally been resolved, and 184 of the 297 passengers will be getting an average of $65,000 each for their troubles. I'm curious if the 45 who opted out of the lawsuit, or the 68 who have already settled, are kicking themselves now.
And 2000-2009 was a really crappy decade for Toronto sports. Don't believe it? Check out CTV's decade in review - one Grey Cup is not much to cheer about, is it? I'm amazed that we can still call Toronto a sports town, given how poorly the Jays, Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto FC have fared in their respective leagues. We're long overdue for a championship team. I'm betting on our next being either the FC or Raps.
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Yeah great, the Air Canada flight only left "just an hour behind". Less than 1 week after buddy and his exploding gitch, didn't exactly make for a pleasant evening out for those of us on that flight. But I'm now 6+ hours sitting in Frankfurt waiting for new connection... Numbnutz on that flight screwed over dozens of ppl connecting. Happy New Year from me & my new ulcer.
Yes, you are being cynical. Every gun taken off the streets is a good thing. The "real problem" is the gun that gets used. This is Canada, not Compton. Looking at every gun-related death in the country a SMALL portion of them are gang-related. The media just loves talking about gangs and guns. If MTV says its cool...
C'mon sports haven't been that bad. The Rock won the title 4 times. So we've held the Championship for our national sport almost half the decade.
Its not the FC, the abbreviation for the team is TFC. As in Toronto Football Club.
The Rock is at least as relevant as the TFC.
Ummm, not even close Xavier.
Those gun confiscations are nothing but a PR stunt. Criminal gangs get their weapons from the underground. Gun trafficking is what should be hit, not these legal gun owners who forgot to renew their license for one reason or another.
Except that the mafia is too big to tackle, and it works in conjunction with street gangs.
Confiscations are only one tactic in a long never-ending battle.
I don't think legitimate gun owners are at risk of being caught in these sweeps.
Take guns from the illegitimate owners and you're not hitting the right source. Introduce tighter gun-control laws and you annoy legitimate owners. It's easy to see measures taken to combat illegal weapons proliferation as "not enough." But the truth is, they're all just small tactics being used in the greater effort.
Yes, they have to find the source of these weapons too and they probably are. There are special officers for that job.
These guys are just doing theirs and it's taken a couple hundred or so guns off the streets.
The fact is that this is a never-ending battle. There isn't going to be a day when we all give up violence and treachery. So for now, regular sweeps are a good thing. Better registry systems are good things. The least we can do is to do something.
What do you mean not even close? They are sports that appeal to a small segment of the population and are driven by gate receipts. You might like one more than the other but both are below the consciousness of the mainstream population of the city.
The 239 seized guns made for good publicity, but their seizure does nothing to stop the spread of gang firearms. Gang members are not interested in the types of firearms that were seized by the police. They were irreplacable hero's war mementos, long guns not suitable for street use, revolvers that gang members do not favour. In any case, why would gang members risk break-and-enters when it is so easy these days to acquire gang-suitable semi-automatic handguns from across the border? These firearms had been stored safely for decades in most cases. But an error on renewing a simple piece of paper gives the police the right to confiscate private property. And, as other posters, pointed out, only one gang weapon was seized. It seems like a publicity stunt and a waste of police manpower to me. The squad is called "Guns and Gangs" not "Guns and Citizens Who Quietly and Harmlessly Store Firearms." Finally, funny about break-ins. There have been hundreds of verified security breaches of the gun registry--a shopping list for criminals. The guns confiscated by police were not on that registry. This means that they would not be on a criminal's shopping list, should he want, for some reason, a World War One carbine.