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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to allow municipal governments like Toronto’s to “ban” handguns will be a big story in 2020, not that it will have any impact on rising, violent, urban street crime.

Rather, it demonstrates how politicians will stubbornly cling to a bad and ineffective idea in order to be seen as combating gun crime without confronting the problem, the criminals who use them.

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In a year-end interview with the Canadian Press, Trudeau said he won’t allow premiers who oppose handgun bans (like Ontario’s Doug Ford) to stop municipal governments that want them — like Mayor John Tory and Toronto council.

That suggests Trudeau is prepared to intrude into an area of provincial jurisdiction, which will have the effect of punishing legal gun owners, as opposed to criminals who use illegal guns.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders recently reported 82% of the illegal handguns used to commit crimes in Toronto are smuggled in from the United States.