Is the Minority Liberal Government Really Coming to Take Your Hunting Rifles & Shotguns?
The recent amendments to Bill C-21 would drastically change Canada's approach to legal firearms. On it’s face the bill seems to be intended to ban “assault-style” firearms, but in reality, it could ultimately ban thousands of guns that have been legal to own for generations.
The amendment includes prohibition of some smaller caliber varmint rifles like .22lrs, manual action firearms like bolt and pump action rifles and shotguns, as well as some single shot rifles. It also proposes banning arguably the most popular hunting rifle for indigenous and woodsman hunters alike, the SKS.
The disingenuous bill claims to tackle military grade ‘assault style’ weapons, where automatic firearms have been prohibited in Canada for decades. The bill goes as far as banning any semi-automatic firearm that is capable of accepting a high-capacity magazine, where any magazine capable of holding more than five rounds is already prohibited within these borders.
Why is this bill designed with so much show and so little substance?
By best estimates 80-90% of all firearms used in violent crimes in Canada can be directly traced back to the United States; read illegal smuggling. This is not to say that the remaining 10-20% can be traced to Canada, in fact these remaining firearms cannot be traced at all (removed serial number, homemade, etc). These issues cannot be remedied by changes to our gun control system.
Canada’s gun control and licensing system works very well. The licensing requirements, mandatory safety courses, daily CIPC checks, secured storage requirements, and more, have resulted in a population of legal gun owners that are less likely to commit any crime, let alone one involving a weapon, than the general population. Licence holders simply have much more to lose than the average citizen.
C-21 was originally enacted to enforce a handgun freeze, while also legislating their previous executive order banning AR variants. A few weeks ago, while the Prime Minister was testifying in Ottawa a Liberal MP introduced an amendment to bill C-21. Contrary to the political spirit of bill amendments, this submission was significantly longer than the original bill itself. What has been proposed in this amendment is a massive expansion of gun control in Canada. It would essentially make the current classification system (Non-Restricted, Restricted, Prohibited) irrelevant.
Since this release, it has become exceedingly clear that the Liberals were not well briefed on the affect this would have; this can be seen through the incoherence of their talking points and the walking back of a number of statements made regarding the prohibition of hunting guns.
The reality of this amendment is that bill C-21 would ban thousands of models of hunting firearms, which possibly includes millions of individual firearms owned by licenced hunters and collectors all around the country.
Whether you're a firearms enthusiast or simply someone interested in politics, this bill is of concern for all Canadians. It may effectively criminalize you or your loved ones property; while also setting a dangerous precedent in parliament as to how amendments are used to surreptitiously change the scope of bills at the last possible moment.
As supporters of Canadian property rights and the firearm community at large we urge you to take the time to write your local MPs, there are many sources available that make this very easy to do:
List of MPs: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search
C-21 Letter Templates: https://calibremag.ca/bill-c-21-form-letters-get-your-form-letters
CCFR Donation Link: https://membership.firearmrights.ca/donate