The York Regional Police chief says “something has to be done” about guns coming across the border, noting that 80 to 90 per cent of the firearms they’re able to trace come from the United States.
Chief Jim MacSween made the remarks at a press conference Wednesday morning where officers announced 51 arrests as part of Project Touchdown, a joint-forces operation aimed at targeting organized car theft rings.
More than 200 vehicles were recovered as part of the ongoing project, and officers also seized numerous firearms and quantities of drugs, police said.
Among the guns allegedly seized were 15 handguns and an assault-style rifle.
“We’re in the process of tracing the origins of each and every one of the guns, but we believe most have been smuggled in from the U.S.,” MacSween said.
“And that, as we all know, it is a significant problem.”
A reporter asked MacSween about that, noting that there have been efforts to expand control in Canada.
MacSween said he has talked to the federal government, adding that anything that can be done to take guns off the streets “is better for everyone.”
“I will say, and it’s a trend we are seeing, that more and more of our frontline officers are seizing guns day in and day out. That’s different than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago, right. It was rare to have that happen. So there are a lot more guns out there and you know as I mentioned earlier, they’re coming across the border…. We need to figure out collectively how can we deal with that.”
MacSween said while he doesn’t “have the answer” on what can be done to fix the problem, “something has to be done.”
He said 80 to 90 per cent, possibly even higher, of the guns officers are able to trace if the serial number is still intact are found to have come from across the border.
“We know that’s the issue,” MacSween said.
“We’re concerned about the fact that more and more guns are showing up, whether it’s a carjacking or as we’re talking about here, theft of vehicles.”
No word on whether gun used in mass shooting was legally owned
Meanwhile, MacSween was also asked Wednesday whether investigators have determined if the gun Francesco Villi used to kill five people at a Vaughan condo building on Sunday was legally owned.
He said he didn’t have an update to provide on that.
The province’s police watchdog the Special Investigations Unit, which is investigating the police shooting death of Villi, also said it didn’t have an update on whether the semi-automatic handgun was legal or not.