Winston Churchill once said that a great politician should, “never let a good crisis go to waste,” a philosophy Canada’s Liberal government seemed to have taken to heart in recent years.
Canada moved quickly after Uvalde
Among the top criticisms of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government has been related to his controversial banning of certain firearms in Canada since the May 24th Uvalde School Shooting in the United States
New gun-control measures
The Trudeau government was quick to introduce new legislation that aimed to change arms-control measures in Canada in an effort to reduce gun violence across the country’s major cities.
No more handguns
“It will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” Trudeau said during a press conference on May 30th
Capping the market
Surrounded by Cabinet ministers, Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs), and gun control advocates, Trudeau sparked controversy across the country when he quipped, “In other words, we’re capping the market for handguns.”
Did it go too far?
“We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action, firmly and rapidly, it gets worse and worse and more difficult to counter,” Trudeau said when asked by journalists if his new legislation went too far.
Bill C-21
The controversial new proposals, now known as Bill C-21, were initially welcomed by many Canadians as a step in the right direction. Many praised the freeze on handguns when it came into effect on October 21st.
A gun violence survivor comments
Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the 1989 mass shooting at Polytechnique, in Montreal said in a statement that the government’s new measures were “substantial, effective, popular, and historical measures that will take Canada in the right direction.” But not everyone in Canada agreed.
A well timed distraction…
Tracey Wilson, a representative from the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights condemned the Trudeau government in a lengthy statement, calling the move “well timed” and meant to serve as a “distraction to a scandal-ridden government.”
Many gun owners worried things would go further
Wilson, along with many of Canada’s 2.2 million licensed firearms owners, worried Bill C-21 would also extend past its mandate once the next crisis appeared, something that seems quite prophetic in hindsight.
Colorado Springs changes things
Less than one day after a gunman attacked an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, the Canadian government proposed a new definition for what could be considered a “prohibited assault-style firearm.”
A new definition for assault-style firearms
The new definition defined an assault-style weapon as “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun, that is capable of discharging centrefire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner and that is designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed.”
The government wants the new definition added to Bill C-21
The government also requested that this definition be added to Bill C-21, the legislation being reviewed by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU).
