Numbers Show There’s Been No Repeat Of “The Summer Of The Gun”

The end of the sunny season is fast approaching and, thankfully, the number of young men and women who’ve lost their lives to gun violence is much smaller than compared to 2005’s ‘summer of the gun’ in Toronto.  

There were 31 gun-related murders on the books by the end of August in 2005, this year that grim number sits at 20.  

There are a number of factors that may have contributed to the decrease in violence, including major gang arrests and crackdowns and witnesses deciding to do the right thing and divulge important details of crimes to authorities.  

But one of the major forces providing positivity across the city over the last year has been the Toronto Argonauts’ Stop the Violence: We Are Toronto program, which is celebrating its first anniversary.  

“I’m so proud of this organization, the Stop the Violence Foundation is giving someone like myself a chance,” 20-year-old youth advisor Junior Bernard explains. “If organizations keep doing this, then the violence will just keep going down, especially gun violence.” 

The youth advisory committee, of which Bernard is a member, is just one of the many initiatives the Argos have provided for young Torontonians.

Head spokesman-cum-cheerleader Mike “Pinball” Clemons admits we’re still not quite where we want to be – but you can see it from here.

“It’s always too early to claim victory,” he muses. “We never claim victory in this situation. What we try to do is just continue to cultivate our young people and empower them and try to enrich them with opportunities, and we always though, I think, have to have the front of mind that people are what’s most important and continue to promote that adage.”

While Pinball credits the cops with helping, he believes the real impetus for the change has come from a fed-up public, who are tired of living in fear.

“The communities themselves are the ones that are responsible for the success…All the credit goes to those parents, those youth workers, those people who are in the communities every day.

“They make the real difference, and we’re just trying to be alongside them and tell them how important they are and how much we appreciate their work.”

He’s hoping the Stop The Violence campaign morphs into a new project called “We Are Toronto”, to emphasis the progress that’s been made and the lengths we still have to go.

The kids involved in the program are trying to raise $500,000 by the end of the year. If you’d like to help them reach that goal,  click here.