Personalized handgun ban didn’t stop Boxing Day shooter

Toronto police now believe they have connected two individuals arrested shortly after Monday’s shooting in downtown Toronto to the shooting itself, and laid charges. One of the men is 20-year-old Andre Thompson. He is alleged to be one of at least two shooters who opened fire in the busy shopping district just north of the Eaton Centre Monday afternoon. He was also under a court order not to own, possess or carry weapons.

It is not known if Thompson’s gun was the source of the bullet that killed 15-year-old Riverdale Collegiate student Jane Creba. From the Toronto Sun story:

A court information sworn by a Toronto Police officer alleges that Thompson, a resident of the troubled Jane-Finch neighbourhood, was carrying a 9-mm Ruger P85 Mark 2 semi-automatic handgun and a magazine with 10 rounds of ammunition on Dec. 26.

Thompson is alleged to have fired the gun “with intent to endanger the life of unknown persons.” Anyone found guilty of that charge alone faces up to 14 years in prison and a minimum sentence of four years.

Thompson is also alleged to have broken an Oct. 6 probation order that he not own, possess or carry a weapon. Published reports indicate he recently served 30 days for a convenience store robbery.

Of course, all of these are unproven allegations stemming from an ongoing police investigation, but I will venture to suggest that if a judge signs an order with your name on it, telling you that you are not allowed to have guns, and you carry one anyway, then a generalized “ban” on handguns is unlikely to be much of a deterrent to you.