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Last Sunday on one of Hamilton’s busiest streets, gunmen opened fire during the dinner hour. No one was hurt but the incident shocked the community.

Days later, a request by Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger asking staff to look into the possibility of banning guns, triggered a firestorm of negative response.

Retired Toronto Police Officer Rob McDonald said “I don’t believe it’s an effective use of municipal resources you know. Gun bans don’t work. They haven’t worked. They haven’t worked in Toronto. They haven’t worked in Chicago, DC I think it’s picking the low hanging fruit to be honest with you.”

But Eisenberger disagrees.

“I will remind people that in Japan they banned hand guns in the country a long time ago 1946 they have the lowest homicide rate. It doesn’t even register on the scale. So there is a cause and effect in terms of the accessibility of guns and what happens in the broader community.”

Eisenberger says not all gun tragedies in the city involve hand guns or criminal activity. He points to the recent shooting of Brandon Clark and another Hamilton man. In that case police say the suspect was using his own hunting rifle to shoot them before taking his own life.