RISE IN GUNPLAY LINKED TO DRUG TRADE - EXPERT

'A Lot Of The Violence You See ... Is Driven By Gang Rivalry,'Author Notes

TORONTO - Michael Chettleburgh, author of Young Thugs: Inside the
Dangerous World of
Canadian Street Gangs, warns of a rise in the number of young people
joining gangs and
says the increasing gunplay on Canadian streets is a symptom of a
burgeoning drug trade.

"Where there are guns and gangs, there are drugs," Mr. Chettleburgh
says. "A lot of the violence you see right now across the country, and
it is different in different cities, is driven by gang rivalry
associated with protection of markets."

Less than 48 hours after Toronto Mayor David Miller launched a
national push to have handguns banned by the federal government, the
city recorded three more shootings.

Elsewhere this past week, Calgary police were appealing for tips
following two shootings that injured two young men.

Neither shooting was a random act, said Calgary police, who summed up
the gunplay as just the latest example of the "blatant disregard gang
members have for innocent members of the community who could have been
hit by errant bullets."

Mr. Chettleburgh researched and wrote the 2002 Canadian Police Survey
on Youth Gangs for the federal government and will release the results
of a new survey this year.

In Winnipeg last month, a 15-year-old street gang member was one of
three charged in a triple homicide after masked shooters opened fire
at a house party.

The shootings, a police source told the Winnipeg Free Press, were a
result of increasing hostilities between the Central -- a
youth-oriented street gang -- and Indian Posse gangs.

Edmonton has logged a series of gang-related shootings since January,
including several incidents in which shots were fired into houses.

Vancouver has seen 14 gang-related homicides since January, according
to police.

Last year, several highly public "gangland-style" shootings at
restaurants, along with the deaths of two innocent bystanders during a
targeted drug-related hit at a Surrey apartment, spurred police to
create a multi-jurisdictional gang unit.

Only six months old, the Uniform Gang Task Force -- made up of 60
officers from Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, along with the
RCMP -- is in the process of becoming permanent, says Vancouver police
Insp. Dean Robinson.

The head of the integrated unit says police have laid "loads of
charges" and seized three submachine-guns among other weapons as the
high-profile squad tries to move gang violence out of the "public domain."

While there has no doubt been an increase in the prevalence of guns,
it is the type of firearms and their use "at the drop of a hat" that
worries Insp. Robinson most.

"We've gone from seeing fairly unsophisticated revolvers, to
semi-automatic pistols to hunting rifles sawed off, to machine-guns
and military-grade assault rifles," Mr. Robinson says.

In Calgary, Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta of the Organized Crime
Operations Centre, says it is not uncommon for police to find gang
members wearing body armour.

In 2006, 8,100 people across the country were victims of violent gun
crimes, including robbery, assault and homicide, according to
Statistics Canada.

Mr. Chettleburgh estimates there are between 11,000 and 14,000 gang
members under the age of 21 across the country, up from 7,000 in the
2002 Police Survey on Youth Gangs.