As everybody here is aware, Toronto went through, in the words of the Queen, an annus horribilis. It was just a terrible year for gun crimes, culminating in Jane Creba's murder. It was shocking to the population in general, and I think it was particularly shocking because it was a complete and utter waste of lives--not only of the deceased, but also of the young men who are involved in these types of crimes.
I'm going to try to be as blunt as I can. The difficulty I see with legislation like this is that although it points in the general direction of what society's concerns are, it's a relatively cheap fix to a problem that really should be addressed elsewhere, and I'm not talking about the soft social services type of thing.
I can draw you a profile of the children who become the young adults who are doing this. It would be focused enough that you could actually aim particular programs, identify individuals, and deal in a much more focused way. There's a culture that you have to get out and dig out. It's unfortunate, when we see it, that the answer is more inclined towards legislating more penalties rather than seeing if there is something we can do to get at the culture that creates it. I know there are people in certain communities in Toronto who have identified it and actually are starting to speak out about it.