Editorial: Taking a stab at knife crime

Crime is against the law ! Punish the criminal and leave the inanimate objects alone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Editorial: Taking a stab at knife crime
Date: Feb 10, 2007 11:19 AM
PUBLICATION: Kingston Whig-Standard (ON)
DATE: 2007.02.10
SECTION: Editorial page
PAGE: 6
COLUMN: Our View
WORD COUNT: 624

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Taking a stab at knife crime

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A former Kingston school trustee walked into a downtown store recently
and spotted a display case filled with knives. It gave him the shivers.
He complained to the police but the vendor wasn't doing anything wrong.
Except for switchblades, selling knives is not illegal in Canada.

What is illegal - and happening more often - is the use of knives as
weapons. Justice Richard Byers of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
told a courtroom filled with the grieving relatives of Justin Schwieg,
the Queen's University student who was stabbed to death in a Kingston
nightclub two years ago, that "every young kid, almost, seems to be
carrying a knife." Byers called on local governments and other
authorities to crack down on young people carrying knives.

That sentiment sits well with Kingston Police, who have investigated 167
knife-related incidents since 2001. Police say five to 10 per cent of
the prisoners booked at the downtown police station are carrying an
"edge weapon" or knife. Only half that number were carrying knives five
years ago.

In the past three years, the number of stabbing deaths in Ontario has
increased from 39 to 55 (there were 60 deaths by stabbing in 2004). In
the same period, stabbing deaths in Canada jumped from 142 to 198,
reaching a high of 205 in 2004. A pilot survey of hate crimes found that
knives and other "piercing weapons" were used in about 17 per cent of
incidents, according to Statistics Canada.

Last fall, Conservative MP Gord Brown re-introduced a bill that would
create mandatory minimum sentences for knife crimes. He's working
closely with Kingston Police Chief Bill Closs on the legislation. Brown
and Closs believe people carry knives as potential weapons because they
think there are no consequences - and because it's easier than carrying
a gun.

There's a reason they believe that. Under Canada's tough new gun control
law, buying a gun in Canada requires a "possession and acquisition"
licence and the completion of firearms safety courses. Gun owners'
spouses and partners, both past and present, are also required to
co-sign the application for a firearms licence. If they refuse, the
application will be delayed while law enforcement officials investigate.


So it doesn't take rocket science to understand why more criminals are
resorting to knives. But can this trend be stopped - or reversed?
Creating a national "knife registry" is out of the question. For
orthodox Sikhs, the wearing of kirpans or knives is an important symbol
that is currently allowed in several provinces, including Ontario.

And would kitchen knives and pocket knives have to be registered? At the
moment, it's perfectly legal to carry a large hunting knife as long as
it's visible. You could conceivably walk the streets wearing a sword as
long as it's not concealed. Yet any of these "edged weapons" can be
used
to injure or kill someone in an instant.

Legal experts caution against the use of municipal bylaws and licensing
authorities to deal with criminal offences. Installing metal detectors
in Kingston bars and nightclubs might have saved Schwieg's life - and
may save other lives in future - but they won't help people who are
assaulted with knives in homes and on the streets.

Attitudes towards knives are also difficult to change: knives aren't
just seen as tools but as status symbols, especially in the hands of
young teens.

Brown's proposed legislation attacks the problem from another direction,
by introducing the notion of deterrence. The government supports
mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes, so why not for knife crimes?
Bill C-393 is scheduled for second reading this spring. It deserves a
serious second reading.




The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !