Ottawa/Nova Scotia/Fraser Valley (With files from CP/Huffington Post) – As the federal government outlaws a wide range of rifles with the aim of making Canada safer, Prime Minister Trudeau says the guns were designed for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting.
The ban issued Friday covers some 1,500 models and variants of what the government considers assault-style firearms, meaning they cannot be legally used, sold or imported, starting immediately.
The list includes the popular AR-15 rifle and the Ruger Mini-14 used to kill 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.
Chilliwack-Hope MP Mark Strahl ( Conservative) echoed his party’s and Andrew Scheer’s comments about the motive.
“Today, the Prime Minister announced a ban on certain types of firearms through an order-in-council.”
“It is clear that the Prime Minister is using the current pandemic and the emotion of the horrific attack in Nova Scotia to push the Liberals’ ideological agenda,” stated MP Strahl.
“Justin Trudeau continues to show that he has no respect for the democratic role of Parliament and is unwilling to have this debated in the House of Commons where Canadians’ voices can be heard. For the Liberals to implement this without bringing in legislation for a debate and vote – and doing it while they have shut down Parliament to avoid questions – is cowardly and underhanded.”
“Today’s announcement by the Liberal government is designed to make people feel safer. The reality is, the majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms. Nothing the Trudeau Liberals announced today addresses this problem. As the RCMP has made clear, the Nova Scotia shooter did not have a firearms licence, so all of his guns were already illegal. Taking firearms away from law-abiding citizens does nothing to stop dangerous criminals who obtain their guns illegally.”
“Trudeau is also completely disregarding the more than 175,000 Canadians who signed MP Glen Motz’s petition – the largest response to any petition in Canadian history – calling on the federal government ’to put any new firearms laws, bans, buyback programs or changes to licencing before the House of Commons to be debated.’”
“Canada’s Conservatives have always supported legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. We want to see a plan that includes:
- Support for police anti-gang and gun units;
- Youth prevention programs;
- Action on rural crime;
- Tougher sentences for violent offenders;
- Support for courts and prosecutors;
- CBSA Firearms Smuggling Task Force;
- Increased access to mental health and addictions treatments.”
“Conservatives will vigorously oppose any attempts to punish law-abiding Canadians and we will continue to propose new laws that actually target criminals and gun crime,” concluded MP Strahl.
I stopped for a few minutes to pay respect and it was with great sadness as I thought of how tragic and wasteful it was for her to die so young and in such a senseless way. My heart goes out to her family and the families of all the victims. May they rest in eternal peace.
