Guns in Toronto shootout, Hamilton killing linked to U.S. trucker's smuggling scheme (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 14 hours ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A former trucker from Florida has been sentenced to more than four years in U.S. prison after smuggling handguns into Canada that were later recovered at 10 crime scenes in Ontario and Quebec, and linked to two killings.

Court documents reviewed by CBC News provide a rare glimpse into a cross-border pipeline for crime guns.

The scheme saw U.S. firearms purchased legally, then transported up to 2,000 kilometres north to be re-sold to a Canadian trafficker for the retail price of the gun, plus a $1,000 fee for each weapon.

One of the weapons was found in Toronto after what police described as a "reckless" shootout in November 2024 that they said highlighted the "real and present danger" posed by illegal firearms.

all 27 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Nils@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 hours ago

The past couple of weeks, I have been seeing a bunch of news about USA smugglers bringing weapons and drugs to other countries.

When people say that USA politicians speech are mostly projection, it is very ironic to see that it is to this extent

... sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.... - Doland J Trump

[+] Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

[deleted]

[-] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 hours ago

After the Clownvoy, 'trucker' is a term that carries a specific kind of weight here

I don't personally associate "trucker" with the convoy automatically. There were a lot of yahoos in the convoy who weren't truckers.

[-] burnitdown@beige.party 3 points 12 hours ago

@Cracks_InTheWalls @HellsBelle i like calling them the Flu Truxx Klan.

[-] Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I do too, now.

What bugs me is now whenever the term trucker is used, especially by Canadian news outlets, I pull in all of these associations that don't necessarily have any bearing on or relation to the facts at hand. And (the part where I might just be losing my mind/being paranoid) it sort of feels deliberate.

I recently encountered someone that really seemed like they were prodding for how easily I could be influenced to agree with or engage in some really wacky shit. It was a very similar feeling to when I see these terms. And I'm just trying to figure out when and if that feeling, when it pops up in a media context or just irl talking with your craftier brand of crazies, is justified or just paranoia.

Sorry - doesn't really have that much to do with the article, the word in this context just triggered that same feeling. And this whole "how to tell when you're being influenced and what to watch for, while not succumbing to paranoia or just taking comfort in your personal biases" thing has been something rolling around in my brain the past couple of weeks.

I also know that I'm part of a demographic (at the moment) that has some pretty wacky stuff targeted at them online (lot of manosphere stuff, for example, finds great targets in recently separated/divorced dudes in algorithmic media formats), which lends more personal interest to the topic. Idk, might just need to touch grass more.

[-] burnitdown@beige.party 1 points 10 hours ago

@Cracks_InTheWalls it is deliberate. the media people who write about this topic refuse to educate themselves beyond a very superficial level, which enables more of the equivocal liberalism they are also doing. they are very much a part of the problem, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. outlined in his letter from Birmingham jail. he said it is not the swastika-tattooed nazis nor the hood-wearing klansmen he feared the most, but the white "moderates" who enable them.

no one is immune to propaganda, so it's always important to check and do your due dilligence to make sure you don't fall for fascist nonsense. Canadian media isn't any less full of it than any other. most of our news is owned by one or two companies, both of which are owned by fascists. there are as many unscrupulous cranks writing for the Ottawa Citizen and the Globe and Mail as there are writing for The SUN. 000000000000000

[-] NoxAstrum@lemmy.ca 2 points 14 hours ago

Well, we'd better take all my legally owned guns away then. They're obviously the problem. Let's ignore the largest source of firearms used in crime: the border.

Absolute genius level governance.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 13 hours ago

Not sure how a story about FloridaMan bringing illegal guns into Canada has anything whatsoever to do with your ability to own legal guns.

But you do you I guess.

[-] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 10 points 13 hours ago

Because crime is used as a reason to restrict legitimate access to firearms.

Two years ago today, we froze the handgun market and stopped handguns from being bought, sold, or transferred anywhere in Canada.

We choose your safety over the gun lobby — every time.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 21, 2024

While I do agree there are certain firearms that are higher risk than others, I don’t think stopping legitimate owners and users was the right call to curb crime and improve safety.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 hours ago

The handgun freeze did nothing to keep anyone safe. The gun bans are entirely against shooting sports and legitimate firearm activities (such as collecting).

I demand that Trudeau show one shred of evidence of what he said. Just one.

I am on my phone and I would like to write a long ass rant, but it is going to have to wait.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works -4 points 13 hours ago

Well tbh your quote is specifically about handguns, not firearms in general. So no, I don't agree with you at all.

Handguns can be concealed and are often used in robberies and murders. Long guns are usually used for hunting.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

The government recently banned a ton of long guns that were previously legal, in the name of crime prevention and that fact they look scary. The compensation program for the buy back is nearly a lottery, there are not enough funds to refund the expected number of returned firearms.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Legally owned handguns in Canada are and were the rarest type of firearm encountered in crime. More stolen police guns are used for murder and robbery in Canada than privately owned pistols.

Edit: long guns have held the record for worst mass shootings, and banning semi-autos hasn't diminished their deadliness.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Semi autos are not banned. Fully automatic is banned and there are significant restrictions on barrel length and magazine capacity. Legal guns, such as the sks, are often semi auto.

[-] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago

The OP is specifically about handguns.

Long guns can be cut down. 20 mins and a hacksaw blade get you a saw-off shotgun. Not quite as pocketable as a small handgun, but very lethal at close range.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago

You are forgetting that pocket pistols have been prohibited in Canada since the early 90s.

[-] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 hours ago

I can’t forget that because I didn’t know it.

(Partially because I moved to Canada about 10 years ago 😁)

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works -4 points 12 hours ago

I was referencing this quote ...

Well, we'd better take all my legally owned guns away then.

They generalized guns when the article focused on handguns.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

They banned over 15,000 models of rifle and are now targeting shotguns for future bans. This is despite the fact that the use of shotguns in crime has been diminishing for decades in all places without legislative changes.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

Because every time there's an incident, it's never the thousands of illegal guns pouring over the border that gets the blame, it's somehow legal gun owners that need to pay a new price.

It's like giving more money to cops instead of addressing mental health issues to stop crime. Dog and pony show.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

Its like shutting down legal pharmacies to end an illegal drug trade, thats Canada's attitude towards gun control.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago

Like the drug problem, this solution is easier and cheaper to make it look like you're doing something.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago

Have you been paying attention to how fun legislation has transformed so dramatically in the past 6 years since covid?

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 0 points 10 hours ago

Yes but let us destroy shooting sports in Canada and continue to punish legal handgun owners (who have grandfathered handguns. No new registration certificates can be issued) even more. Despite the fact that Canadian sourced private handguns are the most rarely used in crime. More police guns (stolen or used by crooked cops) are found in crimes than that.