Cynics Unlimited

Throughout Toronto’s “Year of the Gun” there have been many proposed solutions to stop the rising tide of violent gun-related crimes:

• Setting mandatory minimum prison sentences for gun crimes
• Increasing funding for community social programs
• Using the church to spearhead cultural changes within the communities affected by gun violence
• Modifying and enforcing immigration law

One often heralded (and maligned) proposal is imposing a new ban on handguns in Canada. Depending on who you speak to, such a move will either usher in a new era of peace in Canadian cities or seriously harm the ‘God-given’ right of gun enthusiasts everywhere to bear arms. This ongoing debate will only intensify as it was recently reported in the news that an increasing number of local gun collectors are being targeted for robbery by street gangs in need of more hardware (this is contrary to earlier assertions by Mayor David Miller and Premier Dalton McGuinty that America’s loose borders were primarily responsible for the flow of handguns).

Gun control advocates have long maintained that placing a ban on handguns will instantly reduce the amount of violent crime on city streets; however some serious questions must be asked about the validity of this one-factor solution.

Most importantly, why wouldn’t criminals simply choose a different tool to commit their crimes? When Hutu militants were running low on bullets during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, they simply switched to using hammers and nails to execute Tutsi captives. Machetes are the murder weapon of choice in countries like Guyana, where they are in plentiful supply as farming tools.

Alas, the tendency to focus on the tool instead the assailant or the motive is a worldwide phenomenon. Witness the recent storm of controversy in Singapore concerning sexual attacks with aerosol cans. Over the past few years, there has been a growing problem with Singaporeans being sprayed in the eyes with cans of aerosol party foam and being sexually assaulted while disoriented. The assailants are largely foreign workers of Bengali origin and most of the assaults take place at large outdoor parties by swarms of young men.

The issue was brought to the international [blogosphere] spotlight by high profile female blogger Xiaxue, best described as a Singaporean cross between Michelle Malkin and Paris Hilton. In profanity-laden blogs entitled “Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Orchard Road” and “Not letting life shortchange you”, Xiaxue describes in graphic detail the alleged assaults on several women (including herself) by young men using cans of the party foam.

“They apparently purchase those faux snow spray bottles, and when they walk pass a young girl, they spray their faces … Now not only do the girls get sprayed, they get molested … Why? Because they are not in their own country, and they think they can get away with it …Remember millennium? Man, that was the worst. I think I got molested so many times that day, I can’t even count. When I walked with my hands covering my breasts, I get touched in the butt. ”
-Xiaxue blog entry (December 28, 2005)

“If you think it is funny, please try to imagine the foam on your face, sprayed by a stranger you want no dealings with … Junne [sp] got her ass groped … The worst comment I read, was this girl who actually had a foreign worker insert a finger into her vagina”
-Xiaxue blog entry (January 1, 2006)

However, after making several lazy generalizations about the demographics of the assailants (for which she become embroiled in a nasty online dispute with fellow Singaporean bloggers), Xiaxue suddenly decides that the aerosol cans and not the rapists should be the focus of the Singapore government:

“I expect a ban of these foreign workers from Orchard or City hall is not going to happen, so I am gonna petition for the next best thing: The banning of these aerosol foam sprays … We cannot let this go on every year! Why should we let them spray us like this? Why should we allow them to touch us?”
-Xiaxue blog entry (January 1, 2006)

Readers are then invited to sign an online petition requesting that the Government of Singapore ban the use of foam sprays. As of publishing this article there are 2500 signatures on this petition. The number of signatures will rise further if the voluminous and heated responses to Xiaxue’s tirades are any indication.

Cans of aerosol snow spray are used to commit sexual assaults in Singapore. Should they be banned?

Reviewing the situation at hand:

• Singapore imports a large number of foreigners –largely young men- to perform menial tasks without any accompanying women
• These young men are visibly and culturally distinct in an otherwise demographically uniform society. There is a strong chance of isolation, as Singapore is noted for its rigidness
• Some of the younger foreign workers go to crowded Singaporean festivals in large groups, where they harass and/or assault young women. Their weapon of choice is a can of aerosol party foam, which disorients the victim long enough to commit a quick assault

Does it seem likely that banning otherwise innocuous party items is going to stop these assaults at Singapore parties? Are the groups of foreign men responsible for the violence likely to say “Well, the gig is up. Since we can’t spray the girls any more we’ll just relax in the corner over here and leave everyone alone”? Will none of the assailants consider using other agents like pepper spray or household cleaners?

If this outcome sounds ridiculous then ask yourself: why would banning handguns in Toronto be any more effective for stopping crime? The mere existence or even possession of a handgun does not make one a criminal. Furthermore, the banishment of handguns will not erase the conditions that made Toronto’s gang problems so prevalent in the first place.

• There will still be fierce competition between gangs for control of Toronto’s lucrative drug trade
• There will still be scores of young men from broken homes being recruited into gangs under the false premise of family and respect
• There will still be poorly-enforced and/or inadequate laws allowing offenders awaiting trial for violent crimes back onto the streets
• There will still be a culture of exclusion among Canadians, which may not directly create a criminal class, but almost certainly allows the criminal class to operate fearlessly in distrustful ethnic enclaves
• There will still be a lax immigration policy allowing the entry of 1000’s of unskilled workers whose social ills in their own countries are well-documented

Given the numerous factors behind the surge in gun violence and crime in general, banning handguns in Canada to stop gang violence makes no more sense than banning aerosol cans in Singapore to stop sexual assaults. If the draconian possession laws that already exist in Singapore are inadequate for preventing violent crimes, it is unlikely that banning one of many possible murder weapons in Canada will prove any more fruitful.