So the perception in Toronto is that gun violence is up and local, federal and the Toronto police department have been parroting the same line, that 50% of guns used illegally are domestically sourced and it’s an absolute lie.

“Currently, there is no national repository for this type of information in Canada. The Canadian Firearms Program does not collect or track national statistics with regard to the origin of crime guns,” said Sgt. Marie Damian.

Source: CBC

The RCMP which manages the Canadian Firearms Program does not have any data on where guns are coming from whether from the US or from domestic sources.  Perhaps the local police department keeps track of this right?  Well here’s the information made available by a Dennis Young through a freedom of information request.

So if we look at the data last year there were 726 crime guns seized and of those, 67 could be traced to a licensed owner or ~9%.  So where is the 50% that the politicians and the Toronto Police keep saying?  Even the city’s own police department’s data doesn’t back this stat up…  Let’s take a look at the third chart as I find it the most interesting as ~50% of the guns seized are in the prohibited class (again it’s fairly consistent).  What’s most interesting is that as a legal owner with both my PAL & RPAL, I cannot purchase a prohibited class firearm.

In fact no one who’s received their license after 1996 can, only those who were in possession of those types of guns before the Firearms Act came into place can yet they account for 50% of all firearms seized in the last 10 years worth of data.  Don’t believe me, well download the report and take a look yourself.

Look obviously there’s an issue with gang violence and crimes committed by those who use firearms but let’s be frank it’s not someone like myself doing it.  To really tackle the root causes of these things requires a multifaceted approach (dealing with lack of opportunity, systemic racism, etc) and will require many years if not a generation to fix and that’s just not sexy for politicians.  They want a quick fix that can keep them in power 4 years from now and it’s not possible when dealing with such large societal problems but hey let’s blame legal owners, it’s an easy bait and switch.

So the Feds are talking about restricting gun ownership further, I get that it’s an easy way to score political points by going after legal gun owners, I just wish everyone would realize it wouldn’t have stopped the Danforth shooting last month.  The loser’s brother was a drug dealer and had associates who had a bunch of illegal guns, I still fail to see how more rules and regulations on legal owners would do anything.

The federal government has already said it would consider a number of different ways to crack down further on handguns, including empowering municipalities to do so – a commitment Blair reiterated this week.

He also cited measures already included in Bill C-71, which proposes to tighten certain regulations on gun ownership laws, including expanded background checks on would-be gun owners, stronger record-keeping by retailers and requiring buyers to first present a firearms licence.

Source: Global News

Neither of the above discussed items would have stopped the loser (I will call all mass shooters or terrorists this moving forward) from acquiring a gun.  If the government or us as a society want to deal with the problem with shootings we need to deal with the underlying issues, what is causing people to act out in a violent manner?

Of course those questions are much harder to answer and will take a lot longer, it’s just easier for those in charge to blame guns.

This morning I went to Silverdale with Mario as I wanted to try my new Lakefield Mossberg 400G and it didn’t disappoint.  I used the 18.5″ barrel and it ate all the slugs I could feed it, the sporting and 3″ magnum.  The custom built CQBR also performed flawlessly with the Daniel Defense BCG installed, not sure what I’m going to do with the NEA yet, maybe I’ll shoot it at a later time.

I played a little with the Sig Sauer P226R and shot it a lot better today, got to compare it to Mario’s Norinco NP22, the single action for both guns are actually similar but the double action while heavy on the real Sig, is very smooth.  Shot a lot of steel with the HK SFP9 and man I got to get some smaller plates, 4″ is not a challenge and the 2″ ones are a lot of fun.  We wrapped up at around 11, came home and then in the afternoon went to Brandon’s swimming class.

For dinner we had a BBQ and those things are always yummy, now we’re just relaxing at home.

On Monday I picked up a used Lakefield Mossberg 400G shotgun and it’s unique because it was made in Canada. 🙂

The Lakefield Mossberg 400G shotgun is mechanically identical to the 500 series and the parts are cross compatible, I guess Mossberg gave it a different series number because it was manufactured here.  It came with a 30″ smooth bore barrel with a fixed full choke and I purchased a 500 series 18.5″ barrel (cylinder bore) and well it fits perfectly.  The wood furniture also makes it look really old school, I’m going to the range on Saturday and can’t wait to try it out!

Who doesn’t like getting toys…  My Radian Raptor AR15 charging handle in FDE come in as well as my A2 stock and LPK for the empty Anderson AR15 lower.  I’m going to eventually build a 20″ AR15 and this is a good step. 🙂

The lower just has a mil-spec trigger and I’ll try it out on Friday when I go to Silverdale with a colleague from work.

So about a month ago I traded my Gen 4 Glock 19 for a Sig Sauer P226 and woo it finally arrived today!

The base gun is a P226 chambered in 22LR but the previous owner also had a complete retail 9mm upper and with the Sig it’s as easy as swapping the slide, barrel and recoil spring.  The gun comes with two 22LR 10 round magazines and 3 9mm 10 round mags.  It’s also got tritium night sights and is in near mint condition, the previous owner definitely didn’t fire this thing much.  Oh I really appreciate the smaller profile E2 grips, I have small hands and this fits me much better than the standard grips.

Initially I was suppose to go to Silverdale with Laura & Mario on Saturday but I bailed because I’m going to take a pistol class next week so I’l try this gun then (maybe if I have time), if not maybe in early May.  I’ve never been a big P226 fan but now that I have one I have to admit it’s pretty well built.  I guess time will tell if I keep this thing or not but it’s always fun to fondle high quality firearms. 😀

So like a good redneck on my day off (every long weekend I get an extra day), I spent some time cleaning my rifles specifically my AR15s.  It’s been a while since I’ve given them a thorough scrubbing and the DD MK18 was obviously the dirtiest but it’s minty fresh now.  While I had the various rifles broken down I spent some time on the bolt carrier groups of each and argh I have a chip on my NEA bolt.

From top to bottom, the Stag NiB BCG, the Daniel Defense BCG and the NEA.  I hate that brand, NEA is junk and I purchased this thing before I knew any better but with my experiences and Brayden’s who’s had to send his rifle back a few times, I’ll never buy their stuff again.  Anyway as the picture on the right shows, the chip is small but I’ve seen quite a few NEA bolts break at the cam pin so I’m not taking any chances and will get it replaced.  The DD on the other hand has the most mileage on it and is in great condition, when I get the replacement NEA back I’ll sell it and buy something else.