Gun control.

It looks like I didn't have to wait too long before the next big policy announcement of the campaign. Paul Martin and the Liberal Party of Canada want to ban handguns. Normally, people see a headline like this and think this is good policy designed to crack down on one of society's big problems. I'm not convinced, though, that this is the way to go.
Gun crime in Canada has never been a huge factor like it is in the United States. Canada has significantly less gun crime and gun-related homicides than our neighbor to the south as well as other countries in the world. That's no small accomplishment and I believe that's something we can be proud of. Recent surges of gun-related deaths in Toronto seem to be one of the biggest motivators for this announcement. Ah, politics.
Don't get me wrong... I think it's a real tragedy when people decide that the only way they can settle their differences and solve problems is by killing someone else, whether it be with a gun or anything else. Call me a skeptic but I don't think that the outright banning of handguns is going to make a huge difference. More and more in Canada, weapons seized by the police are not even registered (a registry that has cost over $2 Billion dolars) and many of the offenders have no firearms license. If they broke the law before in order to get a firearm, what's going to stop them this time around? If we're going to really make a difference we're going to have to dig a little deeper and get to the root casues of these crimes: hopelessness, despair, loss, etc. I'm not saying that gun control is a bad idea but it is not the magic answer that some people think it will be.