I don’t believe that this plan will be very effective solution to gun violence in Toronto. This is for two reasons, the first being that the problem is not after the violent act has happened. The ‘reverse-onus’ plan deals with situations after the problem and not before. The crisis is the access to guns in Toronto. There have to be stricter laws on gun control so that they can cut off the gun supply, thus resulting in less gunfire. All this plan will do is hold potentially innocent (and guilty) people in custody. How is this going to help the fact that these criminals have already shot people? It won’t and this is what the government has to take into consideration. The problem is not that they have shot someone; the problem is where they got the gun. Without a gun, perhaps an innocent life could be spared. It seems like an act of desperation from the government after a young and innocent girl was shot while shopping. It is supposed to be comforting, but for me, it only provokes more problems. I also think that their energy could be spent elsewhere, such as looking into where these guns are coming from.

Another problem with this is the amount of people that would be held in custody and the fact that there is no evidence that bail is the problem. There is a chance that officials will catch the culprit but there is also an even bigger chance that they will hold an innocent person. This means that more people will be held in prison for no reason at all, which seems like a complete waste of time and energy for officials as well as the accused. As I have mentioned, bail is the wrong area of violence for the government to target. They have to look at the source of the problem, not the result of it.

The Importance of Saying ‘No’