As Canadians, gun owners across the country are outraged at the continued violence that plagues the streets of urban centres like Toronto. The Minister of Public Safety formally announced the funding promise born out of the 2015 election platform, that aims to provide much needed resources to law enforcement agencies and community groups across the country. Almost 3 years later, not one dime of that desperately needed funding has made its way into the budgets of police service agencies who have been very public about needing it.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Public Safety is plowing forward with C-71, aimed solely at legal gun owners. The millions of dollars in resources being funnelled into this legislation and its eventual program streams could benefit actual work on crime rather than being wasted on already regulated, vetted duck hunters and sport shooters. This just fuels the debate in this country rather than working on preventative measures that may save lives. The Minister continues to re-announce the promised funding repeatedly while law enforcement agencies go public with their pleas for support and resources. Is this funding promise even going to come to fruition before the next federal election? It feels like the Liberal government is content to ram through their new firearm legislation in an attempt to make it appear they have "done something".

We can't help but wonder if police agencies like Toronto Police Services would be better equipped to deal with the mounting violence with a little help from the feds … you are not only responsible for what you do, but for what you fail to do. This Minister has failed to follow through on his funding promises as the violence continues … the cost may very well be in human lives.