The “freezing” of handguns strongly criticized in Greater Montreal

At the end of the line, Marco Pendenza, who founded the Ville Saint-Pierre Shooting Club 35 years ago, is worried about the survival of his activities.

As of next fall, it will be prohibited everywhere in Canada to buy, sell or transfer a handgun. Only a grandfather clause will allow current owners to keep theirs.

The use of a handgun is already strictly regulated in Canada. Restricting it further will have no impact on the safety of our streets. Young criminals don’t come to my store to plan their crime. They buy their handgun on the street on the black marketlaunches the experienced armourer.

Marco Pendenza explains that to be part of his shooting club, a customer must expect a delay of up to 18 months, due to the requirements of the current law.

For example, you must pass two courses on long and restricted weapons, after having applied to the Sûreté du Québec. Subsequently, Law 9 imposes another training to be part of a shooting club, namely the passing of the mandatory aptitude test.

A fourth course in security and weapons handling is also necessary to finally buy a handgun and shoot at a cardboard target.

The only thing our Prime Minister is going to do is go after law-abiding people again to try to solve a crime problem. It’s the equivalent of a doctor choosing the wrong treatment to cure cancer.says Mr. Pendenza.

A complex process

For his part, Marco Venne, owner of Camo Armurier, has the same speech.

To transport a handgun, you must record your journey by reporting the time and destination. There are also two locks: one on the trigger and the other on the safety deposit box. This is without counting the ammunition which must be transported separately. Do you believe that it is this type of registered weapon that is currently problematic?protests the gunsmith located in Laval.

” It’s so complicated to sell a handgun that I made the choice not to keep one in my inventory for hunting. »

Mr. Venne, who is a former soldier, regrets that the law does not provide for any measure against the black market which serves as the main source of supply.

Police also criticize the bill

Since yesterday, several police sources have deplored the repressive aspect towards gun owners subject to the law.

Home thefts of firearms represent a very small percentage of organized crime’s weapons supply. The times we’ve seized a Canadian-registered gun in a gang-related shooting can be counted on the fingers of one handentrusted a sergeant-detective to the Service of police of the City of Montreal under the cover of anonymity.

” The use of handguns in violent crimes is 95% from the black market, the contraband market that is supplied by criminal organizations located in the United States. »

For his part, André Gélinas, a former detective sergeant who trained police officers in shooting and the use of force, maintains that the banning of handguns will not suddenly solve the problem of armed violence in Montreal.

Banning and removing registered handguns from their owners does not solve anything. It is a dogmatic idea on the part of pressure groups. It’s not the legal guns that are the problem, it’s the dirty guns that are acquired illegally. And I see that the bill does nothing to address this issue. It’s window dressingjudges the former policeman.

The Roots of the Gun Violence Problem

On the community side, the director general of Équipe Rivière-des-Prairies, Pierson Vaval, sees only cosmetic changes to the bill.

The young people we do business with don’t have gun licenses. If they got the money and the contacts, they’ll just get what they want on the streetlaunches Mr. Vaval, involved with young people in the northeast of Montreal.

According to him, justice is not the key to solving the problem of armed violence in the streets of Montreal.

The roots of the problem of gun violence lie in young people’s attraction to guns and the culture of violence. By investing our efforts in prevention, we will have much more concrete results. It will be nice to spend astronomical sums of money in police resources, but if this attraction of more impressionable young people is not resolved, the law and justice will come to nothing.he concludes.