I’ve just watched Toronto’s Mayor Miller on the evening news following 3 more gun murders this weekend and feel I have to act on behalf of all citizens who are insulted by his “it’s time to lobby the US government” solution.
I just sent the message below to his office via e-mail, as well as, John Oakley of AM 640.
UPDATE #1 (November 27, 2007): The Mayor’s office did not respond. John Oakley, on the other hand, read my letter on air this morning.
UPDATE #2 (June 14, 2008): The blood shed has now extended beyond his “constituency”. 2008 has turned into Toronto The Violent, including the murder of Oliver Martin, one of my own colleagues.
Regards,
George Tsiolis
A man of average intelligence but plenty of common sense.
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I neither own a gun, nor support gun ownership beyond hunting purposes.
However, I am intelligent enough to know that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution declares the individual right of citizens to keep and bear arms. If his answer to Toronto gun-related murders is to change US laws, then the man is truly an idiot.
Or is he?
Given the fact he is a lawyer, I don’t believe for a minute that he actually believes in his solution. If Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party could not make a meaningful dent in US gun regulation (see “Lasting Effects” section), he knows full well that a Mayor from Toronto has no chance of even getting standing on the issue. If he gets a janitor in Washington to hear him out, I’ll pay for his haircuts in 2008.
His US solution is nothing more than a smoke screen to avoid dealing with the real problems surrounding his constituency – and he knows it. It isn’t fooling anyone other than his voter base … and it isn’t hurting anyone other than them.
Rather than providing solutions that get tough on crime (i.e. hiring more police officers and arming them with the means to battle criminals) – solutions that would upset his voter base – he prefers to talk a big game and blame an easy but untouchable target.
Shame on him for providing his supporters with phantom solutions as they die in the streets. They deserve more from the man they elected mayor. At the very least, they deserve a “solution” with at least as good a chance as a 6/49 lottery ticket.
Yours truly,
George Tsiolis, LL.B
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