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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > CANADIAN CROSSBOW CONTROL PROGRAM FACING MAJOR CHALLENGES AFTER MURDER
CANADIAN CROSSBOW CONTROL PROGRAM FACING MAJOR CHALLENGES AFTER MURDER
December 3 2010
Toronto, Canada – The job of laws is to protect the lives and liberty of civilians. At their core, laws are an agreement between peoples rather than a dictum. By choosing to participate in society we agree to abide by the rules that have been set down by 
previous generations, rules that bind the community together by protecting the people that make up society. Laws though are fluid and need to be. As culture and mores change, so too do the laws. By being fluid, laws continue to protect rather than subjugate the people.
Through most of the modern world, laws that ran society even a hundred years ago are mostly antiquated. Some are much harsher, some more docile, and some non-existent and all of that is a result of changing cultural values. As society becomes more complex the dynamics inevitably change, and as a result the ways in which we interact with one another must change. Still, not every eventuality can be predicted and occasionally it takes a tragedy to promote a change in readily established laws. Such may very well be the case in Canada where a series of recent crossbow attacks, including a murder in downtown Toronto, has prompted many in the legal community to ponder whether or not the current crossbow laws are enough to protect society. 
“This was a targeted killing; this was not random. The use of a crossbow is definitely a unique case in Toronto. You hear about guns, you hear about knives being used, but you definitely don't hear about a crossbow,” said police spokesperson Tony Vellla. “Certain types of crossbows are legal for private residents to hold in Ontario though we cannot comment at this time if this weapon was legal or not. I will say that at this point the accused has not been charged with any weapons violations in respect to this case.”
24-year old Zhou Fang was arraigned in court early Friday on charges of murder in the case of his father, 52-year old Si Cheng.
“This is certainly a shocking and totally unique case but it has become clear that 
crossbows, incidents with crossbows, are becoming more common across the country. There was another incident only last July where a man in British Columbia wounded his son with one of these weapons and now this. It’s clear that access to crossbows has increased recently and that criminals are more than willing to use them,” said a local politician who preferred to remain nameless. “Clearly, without access to guns criminals are turning towards other implements of destruction in order to commit their heinous acts. By limiting access to such weapons we can very easily cut down on such incidents and prevent what is quickly becoming a trend all across the country.”
In most provinces and territories, crossbows longer than 19 inches require a licence while those under that length can be purchased without registration. The last murder by crossbow occurred in 1991.
“All weapons are inherently dangerous and every one of them could be used by 
criminals in order to commit criminal acts. The reality is if crossbows were outlawed this individual may have turned to another weapon, say a steak knife or a fork, and in that light prohibiting the owning of weapons may not do anything,” said Scrape TV Crime analyst Willard Weston. “However, ease of access may very well result in ease of action. Cases like this may be resolved with fists or even festering anger, but the access to these weapons creates an easy solution that can result in murder as it did in this case. That’s not to say that crossbow laws are antiquated, but they bear inspection and debate particularly if this is becoming a trend.”
Federal stats show crossbow ownership has increased by as much as 2 percent across the country in the last ten years.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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