Tuesday April 8, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
Toronto Mayor David Miller has long called for Ottawa to step in and push forth the handgun ban he's championed for years, and while that remains unlikely, he's getting at least a little support from Ontario MPP Mike Colle, who will introduce a private member's bill targeting firearms in vehicles on Wednesday.
The move also comes a day after Toronto's latest incident of gunplay, a bizarre double shooting on Lawrence East Tuesday afternoon.
The bill, entitled the "Unlawful Firearms in Vehicles Act," would give police the authority to immediately suspend a person's driver's licence and impound their vehicle if there's reason to believe a firearm is somewhere inside.
For a first offence the driver's licence would be suspended for one year, for a second the toll would be five years and a third incident would result in a lifetime without a licence. Moreover, a $10,000 fine or imprisonment for up to six months could be heaped on top of the suspension.
Colle, MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence, plans to introduce the bill in response to what his release claims is an "ongoing number of gun-related crimes in our communities, and a growing pattern of unlawful firearms within vehicles..."
Though private member's bills rarely pass, should it get the unlikely nod this would be the first legislation of its kind in Canada.
