On May 1, less than two weeks after Canada’s worst mass shooting to date, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on military-style assault weapons.
“These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only — to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time,” he told the public during his daily COVID-19 briefing.
Trudeau clarified that the ban would only apply to those most dangerous weapons which have been used in killing sprees like that of École Polytechnique in 1989, the Moncton shootings in 2014, and most recently the Nova Scotia shootings on April 18 and 19.
“The vast majority of gun owners use them safely, responsible and in accordance with the law,” said Trudeau. “But you don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer.”
A list issued by the government bans over 1,500 models. This includes M16, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles, as well as M4 carbines. Combined, this accounts for over 100,000 guns across Canada that were previously “restricted.”
But the government doesn’t know exactly how many “unrestricted” guns exist in the country that will now be banned, like Ruger Mini-14s, and M14 rifles. This lack of registration is due to the abolition of the Long Gun Registry under the federal Conservative government in 2012.
On top of that, not all of those guns will be confiscated. Many current owners will be able to keep their guns due to grandfathering laws set out by the government.
“You can possess certain prohibited firearms if you had one registered in your name when it became prohibited,” explains the government’s firearms website.
Trudeau told the public that current owners of the now-banned guns would have a two-year amnesty period, during which there will be legislation created to coordinate the buy-back of these guns.
“The government intends to implement a buy-back program to compensate affected owners for the value of their firearms after they are delivered to a police officer,” says the government’s analysis statement on the new law.
The law will, however, make it totally illegal to sell or buy any new guns that fall into the category.
“Today we are closing the market on military-grade assault weapons in Canada,” said Trudeau in French.
In Nova Scotia, there are only six shipping companies that were previously permitted to transport these weapons.
RCMP confirmed on April 28, that the gunman in Nova Scotia’s recent mass shooting was armed with two semi-automatic rifles and several semi-automatic pistols.
Although police believe he obtained them illegally, Trudeau said the new law will make it harder for any Canadian to acquire a dangerous weapon.
“Every one of us remembers the day when we realized that even in Canada a man with a gun could irrevocably alter our lives for the worse,” Trudeau said.
In Canada, the estimated number of firearms owned per 100 civilians was 34.7 in 2017, compared to 120 in the United States (yes, that’s more guns than people), according to the Small Arms Survey.
Across the country, gun fiends took to social media to mourn the loss of their beloved weapons. Among them was Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay, who took to Twitter to call out Trudeau.
“As a Nova Scotian I’m outraged that Justin Trudeau is using this tragedy to punish law-abiding firearms owners across Canada,” MacKay said in a video.
In response, his fellow Nova Scotians got pretty riled up about his lack of sensitivity around the issue.
The government is expected to release more details in the coming weeks on how to compensate those who are handing over their guns.
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This article appears in May 1-31, 2020.
The problem with this whole thing is that it is being pushed due to ignorance rather than actual data or needs.
And the rather funny thing to anyone that knows even a small amount about guns is that “assault style weapon” really means nothing. There are many guns on that list which have equivalents made by the same company, chambered in the same calibre, both semi-automatic, but one has black plastic and looks like something the military would use, and the other has a wooden stock and looks like a hunting rifle.
For reasons that are purely aesthetic, the black polymer/metal ones – vaguely deemed “assault style” – are being banned while their equally deadly and functionally identical siblings are not.
Furthermore, in the grand scheme of Canadian gun violence far more evil is done by handgun than long-gun which, due to their concealability, are arguably more dangerous than many of the weapons on the list and outside of law-enforcement serve even less of a purpose than the now-banned long-guns. Yet it’s not handguns that are banned, but big scary looking guns. This is to say nothing about action against the illegal importation of firearms from the US which is a far greater issue than people legally and safely possessing what the public deems to be “assault style weapons”
I certainly think that Peter MacKay’s snipe is a bit untimely, but all of this betrays the fact that this quick move by the Liberal government is a knee-jerk reaction to appease a largely ignorant majority of people whose opinions are in no way based in actual data or evidence, but just want to see something done. And not only that, but rather than take the more logical tact of going after handguns or announcing a larger offensive against smuggling, we’re going to run a program that will cost the taxpayer untold amounts of money and will effectively punish those who use such weapons responsibly and safely.
This will, in the long run, have very little positive effect on reducing gun crime or even tragic events like what happened in Nova Scotia two weeks ago.
when is a ban not a ban. When the liberals promise a ban where current owners wll be grandfathered and allowed to keep their guns, just not allowed to sell them. WHOOPIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get rid of any rifles that have more than 5 bullets in them, maybe ban all magazines. If you are a hunter that requires more than 5 bullets you should not be hunting. Also ban all handguns, there is NO reason for them .
I wonder why we got rid of the law that automatically added extra time on a sentence committed with a gun.
The US needs gun control.
Canada does not need gun control.