Liberals to take away the rights of 2.2 million gun-owning Canadians
On Friday Trudeau and the Liberal party have very cavalierly promised to take away the rights of 2.2 million Canadians. They have offered, on their platform, a ban of assault weapons (without defining what assault weapons are) and will allow municipalities to ban handguns.
When a government removes a person’s right I believe they need to justify several things: firstly, is the population in question (the one that is having their rights removed) responsible for the aberrant activities the new policy is trying to improve? Clearly law abiding Canadian gun owners are not the ones committing gun crimes in downtown Toronto. Gun owners are already vetted by government, required to take and pass a gun safety course, and to store their weapons in a very safe manner (and away from the ammunition). In fact, gun owners are the most, in every aspect, law abiding people in the country.
The second question that needs to be asked is: will the new policies do what they are promised to do? I do not see the gangs and criminals giving up their guns. Truth be told, in Toronto when they permitted the unpopular policy of carding, police were able to be pro-active in reducing gun crime. Why can proven policies be examined instead of the needless punishment of law abiding Canadians? As far as I know, an Armalite15 (the main assault rifle Trudeau cited and which is already restricted in Canada) has never been used in a shooting in our country. There are many more, perfectly legal, guns in Canada which are far more dangerous. The gun used in the [École Polytechnique] massacre was a Ruger-mini 14, currently a non-restricted gun in Canada. Those calling for the restriction and banning of this gun (the AR15) clearly have no idea about guns.
Why do the Liberals (and as far as I know the NDP and Greens) demonize gun ownership? Likely because it is a big issue in the U.S. political scene and plays big dividends to the left wing political circles. People who have no knowledge of guns, their uses or the people who use them are easily worked into a state of fear and become pliable votes.
When you vote this October, your vote may be what is used to restrict the rights of 2.2 million of your neighbours. Make sure it’s worth it!
Martin Barker
Duncan