Toronto city council urges ban on handgun sales after deadly mass shooting

Canadian public safety minister says federal government is considering the proposal

Toronto Police officers work on Danforth St., at the scene of a shooting in Toronto, Ontario (COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

One day after a deadly mass shooting rocked the city of Toronto, Mayor John Tory wondered aloud why anyone in the area would need a gun. This week, the city council responded overwhelmingly: They don’t.

The council voted 41-4 on Tuesday to ask the provincial and federal governments to ban all sales of handguns and handgun ammunition in the city. The motion came just two days after a gunman opened fire in the city's Greektown neighbourhood, killing two people and injuring 13.

In a speech to the city council on Monday, Mr Tory said gun violence anywhere in Canada’s largest city was “horrible and completely unacceptable”.

"There are far too many people carrying around guns in our city and our region who should not have them," he said. "That leads to another question we need to discuss: Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all?"

It was unclear what immediate effect the motion would have. Canadian public safety minister Ralph Goodale said the government was considering the proposal, but cautioned that such a change would require “substantial rewriting of the criminal code”.

Canada currently requires all handgun owners to obtain a licence, in a lengthy process that includes firearm training, personal reference reviews, and a criminal record check. First-time license applicants must wait 28 days before making their first purchase.

Toronto has been grappling with a surge in violent crimes in recent years – particularly those involving guns. As of July, the number of shootings in the city this year had already surpassed the total for all of 2017, according to police data. The number of homicides have also more than doubled, largely due to gun violence.

The city rolled out a $3m programme to target gun violence just two days before the shooting, putting 200 more officers on the streets of at-risk neighbourhoods between 7 pm and 3 am, according to CNN.

Reese Fallon, age 18, and Julianna Kozis, age 10, were killed in the shooting on Sunday night.

Police identified the shooter as Faisal Hussain, a 29-year-old who lived in the city. His family said Hussain struggled with “severe mental health challenges”, including psychosis and depression.

"Medications and therapy were unable to treat him,” the family said in a statement. “While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end."