by Cristina Howorun
Last Updated Apr 25, 2021 at 3:22 pm EDT
As part of an original Citytv documentary, VeraCity: The Gun Chase, reporter Cristina Howorun examines the causes behind and source of Toronto’s gun problem and the impact the violence has on victims and their families. In this first person account of what it takes to acquire a gun license in Canada, she also experiences what its like to fire a gun for the first time.
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I’d never picked up a gun before, at least not a real one. I shot a BB gun at a target range at a Caribbean resort once, but that hardly counts. Nobody in my immediate family has ever shot a gun, and in my large and extended family, its never really come up. There may be some hunters in my family, but its not part of any conversation I’ve ever had. And the veterans that returned from service didn’t come back with guns. I didn’t grow up in a culture of firearms, and I was fortunate enough to grow up in the suburbs, relatively isolated from street violence.