Let me tell you something. First of all, with respect to street gangs in Canada, approximately 7,000 people have been identified as members of gangs. Not all those gangs would fit our definition of “organized crime”. Some of them are much more loosely organized. Individuals in those gangs and associated with those gangs may not be involved in organized criminal activity, and therefore there are limitations in using criminal enterprise legislation against such individuals. But what we are also seeing is that some of those individuals are choosing to arm themselves with guns. In so doing, they are placing themselves and others in our communities at great risk.
One of the challenges we face in dealing effectively with these gangs is the intimidation of civilian witnesses, encouraging people to come forward to cooperate and support us in our investigations. When we apprehend an individual with a gun--and as I've indicated, there is no legitimate reason to carry a handgun. If you're not a police or security professional in the city of Toronto, the only reason to carry a loaded handgun in our streets is to kill people. When we apprehend those individuals for those offences who are in possession of those guns, we need to be able to intervene at that point. It is a significant and serious enough trigger that the individual represents an overwhelming threat to public safety, and the criminal justice system has to be able to deal effectively with that individual.
The issue of criminal enterprise, the insidious nature of organized crime, the threat and challenges organized crime represents to all of our communities is one that the...I believe we've used the existing legislation effectively. As I've indicated, it places tremendous burdens on the criminal justice system, but it's a good tool, and we have used it to good effect in the community.
There is another problem, and it is individuals who choose to take up handguns and to carry those guns—