Re: Constable wounded, suspect killed in Brampton courthouse shootings, March 29

Constable wounded, suspect killed in Brampton courthouse shootings, March 29

We know much more about valiant Police Const. Michael Klarenbeek than about the handgun-wielding man who shot him, en route to shooting someone else. Nearly half of all handgun crime in the country happens in the GTA, and gun violence costs Canadians upwards of $3 billion a year.

In the coming weeks, I hope as much attention is paid to how this semiautomatic handgun wound up in the wrong hands, or in the hands of a man who may have once been a reasonable citizen, but clearly was no longer. The mayoralty candidates opposing incumbent Rob Ford should know that he is as vulnerable on the gun issue as he is on his various drug habits.

Several prominent Liberal and NDP politicians, from Paul Martin to former attorney-general Michael Bryant to former mayor David Miller (a real mayor) have called for a ban on handguns. At the very least, this should be achievable for the kind of semiautomatic handgun that easily transforms peaceful public spaces into killing fields.

The city may have to go into the gun storage business, and open state-of-the-art facilities where such weapons can be stored, fired and serviced by their lawful owners. The same should apply to semiautomatic rifles, especially now that Stephen Harper has interfered with the police’s ability to keep track of who owns them.

Ron Charach, Toronto

In December 2013, Const. John Zivcic was killed on duty when he was in a traffic accident and thrown from his vehicle. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Last Friday, March 28, Const. Mike Klarenbeek was shot and wounded at the Brampton courthouse. He wasn’t wearing his bullet-proof vest.

Ignoring the basic rules of safety by these officers is akin to a construction worker entering a work site without a hard hat and safety boots. I don’t think that a police officer would dress for duty without wearing their gun, so why would they ignore basic safety items, namely seatbelt and vest, that are also available to them?

It is not only devastating to the officers’ families when an injury or fatality occurs, but to the community in general.

This is an impassioned plea to all police officers to protect yourselves with all of the tools at your disposal. If you don’t protect yourselves, you may not be available to follow the mandate: “To Serve and Protect.”

Warren Dalton, Scarborough

I am pleased that the Peel police officer is recovering from his injuries, however, I am a little disturbed in the manner in which he was transported to Sunnybrook Hospital. Surely to goodness, in this day and age, an injured person should not have to be driven at high speeds along some of the busiest highways in North America accompanied by a phalanx of siren-shrieking police vehicles.

I cannot begin to fathom who actually organized and approved this operation. One wrong move by a vehicle in the high-speed convoy’s path would have possibly led to dozens of seriously injured civilians. Wasn’t the air ambulance service created to avoid such a scenario?

Peel region has excellent hospitals located a few kilometres away from the courthouse. Serious injuries usually are triaged and stabilized at the nearest available hospital emergency ward and are then airlifted to regional trauma centres as needed.

I realize that all police officers would bend over backwards to help a fallen brother officer but in this case, I feel that the lives of civilians were placed in jeopardy. One cannot help but wonder, if an innocent bystander had been shot, instead of a police officer, would they have been accorded the same speedy escort?

Malcolm Lowe, Unionville

Rosie DiManno writes “Minutes later, a female officer shouting into her radio: ‘A police officer is down!’ ” If the officer had been male, would DiManno have written “Minutes later, a male officer shouting into his radio . . .”? I think not. So why not?

“Baby” may have come a long way, but it’s unconscious language choices like these that betray how far she still has to go.

Gillian Bartlett, Toronto

So does lawyer Peter Rosenthal (“Disarm most police officers” Feb. 27) still think front-line cops shouldn’t carry guns? How many more people would have been shot and probably killed before the tactical team arrived at the Brampton courthouse?

Give your head a shake; you’re living in the real world.

Steven Sabourin, Carlisle

The police officer who put down the shooter obviously did the right thing. The man had a gun and needed to be stopped before he inflicted further damage to other citizens. I have read in the Star where suggestions have been made that police should maybe not have guns like in the U.K. I think this shows that this would be a bad idea. If the officer didn’t have a gun, how many others would have been possibly injured or killed.

What is needed is better training in situations where a suspect can be subdued without firing a fatal shot. A leg shot would drop a suspect pretty quickly. The undeserved shooting of the young man on the bus last year and other shootings of mentally disturbed citizens shows the training is just not there. The incident with the elderly lady that was in her eighties was ridiculous.

I am sure that there are some police officers who shouldn’t even be on the force, let alone have a gun. But I believe that to be a very small percentage, as the majority do an exceptional job and would have handled the bus fatal shooting differently.

They deserve our respect in the job they do, but I hope the officer who shot Sammy is no longer on the force. Obviously a man who lacks poor judgment and should never be given a gun.

William Arsenault, Napanee

I know it’s sometimes hard to remember what people’s titles are. After all you are newspaper people, not journalists editors or columnists. Those people on your front page aren’t “emergency workers” nor are they ambulance drivers. They are paramedics.

Omer Lifshitz, Toronto