By Dawar Naeem and Adonis Huggins
(Dawar and Adonis are journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre)

Louis March, is the founder of the Zero Gun Violence Movement. The Zero Gun Violence Movement is an awareness and advocacy movement that works across the City to engage people and organizations that are genuinely committed to reducing gun violence and building safe and healthy communities, not for some, but for all.

The Regent Park Youth Collective invited Louis March, to discuss the recent gun violence incident that occurred in Regent Park.  

On September 18, 2021, a 29 year old man sustained life-threatening injuries and a 27 year old adult male suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while Thane Murray was pronounced dead at the scene. Murray was well known and respected in the Regent Park community. He was a mentor and big brother to many and the community was shock by this horrendous act of violence. A Vigil was held at the spot of the shooting, which was attended by many youth and older community members.

According to Louis March, gun violence in Toronto is increasing, “There has been a 81% increase of gun violence over the past 10 years. This year alone there has been 319 shootings and we still have a few more months to go!”

Louis and the youth discussed the reasons for the increase in gun violence. Their response: access to guns; willingness to use the guns; emblazonment and lack of fear consequences or police; the influence of social media; and the younger ages of those using guns.

March argues that our solutions to gun violence, has not kept up with reality on the streets.

“Guns used to be borrowed and shared. Today owning a gun is easy and it’s not only a gun…it’s a semi-automatic gun.  Having a gun used to be a power play into itself.  Now you can’t have a gun and not use it.”  says March.

The mentality of these shooters are changing March says.  In describing today’s mentality March argues, “If you come in my neighbourhood and pop off 10 rounds…I’m going to come to your neighbourhood and do twice as much”.
 
Samir, a youth host adds, “And it’s not only gang members or people you have a beef with who are getting hurt…it’s innocent people that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”.  
Samir brings attention to an incident captured on video, of a hooded youth placing a gun to the back of the head of an unsuspecting elder in the Regent Park community. Fortunately the gun had a problem and did not go off. The gunman fled.

 Another incident Samir discussed was last year’s shooting of four elders while they were just having a conversation in a park car in Regent Park. In this incident three of the elders were injured and one of the men, a sixty year old, received life threatening injuries.

March argues that the solutions that the City has put forward to solve gun violence, are not dealing with the roots of violence and therefore are not relevant.  Adding more police officers and more policing of at-risk communities does nothing because those committing the violence simply wait till the police are not around. Instead more resources should be put in getting guns off the streets and dealing with trauma among young people, their families and their communities. “Hurt people…hurt people,” says March. A young man recently told him that a way he deals with his trauma is violence, because that is all he knows.  

It seems that the City of Toronto is prepared to tolerant an acceptable level of violence as long as it is contained in certain neighbourhoods, after all, in 2021 while our communities are grieving, the City of Toronto is ranked among the safest cities in the world.