Toronto Mayor Taps YouTube To Launch Handgun Ban Campaign

April 8, 2008 10:54 a.m. EST

Toronto, Canada (AHN) - To push for his national campaign to ban handguns, Toronto Mayor David Miller appeared in a YouTube video on Monday to encourage Canadians to sign an online petition.

Miller plans to campaign for the prohibition before Parliament Hill on June. To further boost his campaign, the Toronto mayor also had family and friends of gun violence victims appeal to the emotions of Internet viewers. The video plea is also available on the capital city's website.

The same people testified before the city's executive committee on Monday to justify the proposed handgun ban. One of the victims of gun violence was John O'Keefe, hit by a bullet while on his way home from a bar.

In a letter from O'Keefe's wife Teresa Kaufman, family friend Jennifer Allen talked of the pain from the perspective of the victim's 9-year old son, Iain. "As a result of a single gunshot, Iain will never see his dad again. He never got the chance to say goodbye, and give him a hug, or tell him how much he loved him,' the Toronto Star quoted the emotional letter.

At the hearing, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement handguns are already prohibited across Canada. Only those with legitimate purposes for owning one, such as police officers, target shooters and registered collectors, are exempt from the ban. Miller said he was in favor of limiting the exemption only to police officers.

In the YouTube video, Miller talks directly to the audience, asking rousing questions like, "Have you ever taken by the hand a brother, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, a father, an uncle, a friend of somebody whose life has been needlessly lost? I have. I have far too many times."