GREAT DEBATE
Proposed federal gun law makes no one safer
KIRK WINTER, WRITER-AT-LARGE
OPINION In May, the federal government moved to ban more than 1,500 different models of firearms from further importation, sale, resale or usage. Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair claimed Canadians will be safer as a result because these so-called “assault rifles� that make up the bulk of the models to be banned are a threat to the public at large. Nothing could be further from the truth. The key weapon banned by the order-in-council is the Armalite AR-15, the civilian version of the weapon used by the Canadian Armed Forces. It is only manufactured in semi-automatic versions and it cannot be made fully automatic. It is a favourite of target shooters everywhere because of its light recoil and inexpensive ammunition. The AR-15 has been a restricted firearm in Canada since the 1970s. Additional licensing and training are required to own one and even then its transportation and usage are limited to licensed gun clubs in Canada. These guns cannot be used for hunting, and the government knows the location of every Armalite in Canada because of tough ownership and licensing procedures. Not a single legally-owned registered Armalite in Canada has ever been used in the commission of a crime in this country. Critics from across the political spectrum believe the Trudeau Liberals are using the Nova Scotia shooting in April to push this through. The deranged criminal responsible for killing more than 20 people recently had been banned from owning firearms in Canada because he had been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. His Norinco 305, also now on the banned list, had been bought illegally in the United States and smuggled into Canada.
Tragically, if press reports are correct, he also killed many people with weapons taken from the cruiser of the RCMP officer killed in the shooting. Our gun laws worked correctly, and the only way the murderer killed a single person was by smuggling a weapon in from the United States and killing a peace officer and then stealing her weapons. The new Liberal legislation would have not saved a single life in Nova Scotia. Canada has proven time and time again to be at the forefront of safe and sensible gun legislation that has led to our nation having one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the world. Fully automatic firearms have never been legal in Canada. Handguns have been tightly controlled since the early 1930s. Canada’s safe storage laws and training and licensing requirements are the gold standard when compared to many other countries. If the government truly wants to spend $500 million to make Canadians safer, the money would be much better spent on tougher border inspections, and closing the illegal gun pipeline from the U.S. where most of our gun problems begin.
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