Armed violence is on the rise in Montreal according to an important report made public yesterday by the SPVM.
In 2021, 19 people are believed to have been killed by firearms. That’s 13 more than in 2020. Shootings made the headlines of our daily newspapers in the past, we received notifications when a young person lost his life. Today, we have become impervious to this kind of news.
We have collectively accepted that this is the new Montreal normal: is it being shot at in residential neighborhoods? Yes !
We shoot a person in a family restaurant in the middle of supper time? So what… ?
Young people with no history (Thomas Trudel, Meriem Boundaoui, and others) are killed almost at point-blank range without the culprits ever being arrested? Well, it’s not that bad.
Mobilization
The rise in violent crimes perpetrated by firearms should mobilize us. Especially when we see the disastrous consequences of the proliferation of these weapons among our American neighbors.
The Trudeau government announced last week a freeze on purchases, sales and transfers of handguns that will take effect this fall. The idea is good, even excellent, but nevertheless incomplete.
The criminals who put our lives and our children’s lives at risk don’t buy from the certified retailer around the corner who plays by the rules. But rather with criminal groups smuggling illegal weapons on both sides of the border. It is therefore the latter that must be strengthened. We must suffocate the supply networks, tighten control and verifications, and above all, reinforce the prison sentences for offenders and repeat offenders.
We must mobilize collectively, governments, civil society, community organizations and police services, so that our security finally becomes an absolute priority and an end to this indifference which is costing us lives.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com