Angry and Sad
I was pissed yesterday and I’m pissed today. I can’t shake the anger at what happed to Jordan Manners.
The media coverage seems to be non-stop. I caught a snippet of a soundbyte on Omni news in which Jordan’s mom, Lorraine Small, looks directly at the camera and says something to the effect of, “what you’ll get will be a lot worse than what you did to my son.” My heart agreed with her one-hundred percent, I was that angry at Jordan’s murderer.
I wish… I truly wish that something great will come out of Jordan’s murder. Either the banning of handguns or… heck, that’s the only thing I want to see.
Miller’s soundbyte on CBC news summed up a great argument for a total ban on handguns: “Handguns exist to kill people. That’s why they’re made.”
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Banning handguns won’t solve the problem, but will help. Security camera won’t solve the problem, but it will help catch the perps.
The problem in actuality is this - how do we persuade young people that schools should be a safe place and no form of violence, not bullying, not stabbing, not shooting, should ever occur there - not by legislation like Safe Schools Act which deals with it after the fact, but by instilling a taboo against violence ever happening.
(As we also found out some time back, churches aren’t safe in TO either)
Once we have established that some zones are “safe”, we extend that to the wider community.
I think that to stop gun violence and crime in general, the underlying causes need to be addressed. Sure guns cause violence and sure cameras will help catch people but what makes people resort to such extreme violence to deal with conflict? Jobs and job training should be offered to at risk youth, more community centres and free support programs are needed. Single parent families need assistance and increased support through daycare, financial assistance. Its these underlying causes that, when addressed, will make Toronto a safer place.