In the wake of Sunday’s shooting rampage in downtown Toronto, a majority of that Canadian city’s elected officials are pushing for a federal government ban on the sale of handguns in the city, according to CNN.
Two people were killed, and more than a dozen others were injured. News coverage alluded to “gun violence” and Toronto Mayor John Tory declared, “There are far too many people carrying around guns in our city and our region who should not have them.” He also demanded to know “Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all?”
Contrast that with the aftermath of April’s violent attack by a man driving a rented van down a crowded sidewalk. That incident killed ten people – five times the number of dead in the Sunday shooting – and injured others. But the Toronto City Council didn’t push for a ban on the rental of vans to people. Mayor Tory didn’t rush to the nearest microphone to declare that too many people were driving around in rented vehicles.
Back in April, The Guardian reported that “the man accused of using a rented van to plough into a busy Toronto sidewalk has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.” In that case, the perpetrator was being held responsible.
But in the four days since last Sunday’s incident, it appears that the mayor and a majority of his city councilors are holding guns responsible.
This scenario is not isolated to Toronto. The same thing happens on this side of the border, where gun prohibitionists have been successful in setting the media narrative, at least in the minds of frustrated Second Amendment activists who are weary of being used as whipping boys for the misdeeds of others.
Guns are a campaign issue with would-be politicians now running for office in several areas. In Florida, a 15-second advertisement by State Rep. Matt Caldwell, a Republican running to become the Sunshine State’s next Commissioner of Agriculture, shows him firing a shotgun and declaring that he loves guns and noting his endorsement by the National Rifle Association.
On the other hand, a message from Dr. Kim Schrier, a Democrat running for the open 8th Congressional District seat in Washington State declares that she will “stand up to the NRA.”
In the midst of this, law-abiding, honest gun owners on both sides of the border simply wish to be left alone. Whether they own one gun or dozens of them is nobody’s business, they say. And nobody should be trying to poke their noses inside the homes of gun owners, or pushing to regulate gun ownership into oblivion. 
