Mr. Chair, I have a subamendment to move on the now-amended amendment. I believe the subamendment I'm proposing will capture a bit of the spirit of the original motion from the House. That is my aim. It's just to strengthen some of the language so that our aims of the original motion are clear.
Under (i), I propose “all the ways that firearms are illegally diverted, including smuggling across the United States border and domestic diversion”.
I'm just adding in the additional emphasis that was implied in the original motion from the Bloc.
Then under what was previously (iv), which I guess is now (ii), I propose crossing out the word “recognizing”, because I believe this depreciates the importance of the gang issue. The version of paragraph (ii) that I propose would read as follows: “the increasing involvement of gangs and firearms, the review of the programs that address the causes of youth gang involvement, programs that prevent recruitment and retention and diversion, and the causes of high recidivism rates”.
The reason for that last addition is that we know gang members are often repeat offenders who commit gun violence over and over again. I think that brings more emphasis and seriousness to the gang focus the Bloc had originally.