A community safety forum was held at Nipissing University on Friday.

The availability of guns was one of the big topics with the federal Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Bill Blair on hand to answer questions.

One of the presenters was North Bay Police Chief Scott Tod.

His big concern was the lack of federal funding to help police services deal with guns and gangs.

Tod’s big concern is with so much attention on Toronto smaller communities are now seeing more activity.

Blair told Bay Today his government is addressing the availability of guns.

“We’ve invested $89 million in enhanced border security specifically targeting firearms coming in from the United States. We’re also giving officers new tools to do the job and we’re using sniffer dogs too,” he says.

He says while they want to get guns out of the hands of criminals they want to ensure the rights of law abiding gun owners are respected.

“Respecting the lawful firearm owner and is not a threat to public safety. But if their weapons get into the wrong hands that can be a problem. Our measures include effective action to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting those who use guns responsibly,” Blair says.

(photo by Chris Dawson BayToday)

Filed under: bill-blair, guns, scott-tod