Canada already had restrictive gun control, but apparently it isn’t enough.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that his country is immediately banning the use and trade of all “assault-style” firearms following a rise in mass shootings around the country.
As The Associated Press reported, the killing of 22 people in Nova Scotia April 18-19 was the final straw:
He announced the ban of over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms, including two weapons used by the gunman as well as the AR-15 and other weapons that have been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States.
“Canadians need more than thoughts and prayers,” Trudeau claimed in what seemed like a mocking of people who are genuine in their intentions following such events.
Interestingly, the new order from the Cabinet doesn’t criminalize the continued ownership of the military-style firearms and their variants, but it does ban the trade and use of them.
Rather, the order contains a two-year amnesty, in which current owners can ‘export’ them, turn the in to authorities for “deactivation,” or give them back to manufacturers. In certain limited situations, they can still be used for hunting.
“You do not need an AR-15 to take down a deer,” Trudeau said. “So, effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade, assault weapons in this country.”
Trudeau also employed the typical Left-wing talking point of, ‘No one needs these weapons because all they’re built for is killing.’
“There is no use — and no place — for such weapons in Canada,” he declared.
The AP noted further:
Trudeau has said his government would introduce further gun control legislation prohibiting military-style assault weapons, a measure that had already been planned before the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the current parliamentary session.
“As of today the market for assault weapons is closed. Enough is enough,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.
As usual, such ‘enough is enough’ declarations by public officials and elected leaders amounts to little more than blatant virtue-signaling because in Canada and elsewhere, criminals and people with criminal intentions don’t give a whit about ‘the law.’
In fact, Canada, like most other nations on earth, has as law against murder — not murder by certain weapons or objects, but murder, period, by any means.
And yet, this ultimate prohibition hasn’t stopped gun violence from rising in the country. According to Statistics Canada, “firearm-related violent crime” has risen 42 percent since 2013, and that’s in a country that already required citizens to either register all guns, get a license and take a course to buy and own one, or all three. The licenses are only good for five years, and everyone has to pass a background check before licenses are issued.
So — when this new firearms ban doesn’t completely eliminate firearms crime in Canada, what’s next, a complete gun ban?
This is the part that always baffles. It’s like when Leftists put up signs at schools and businesses in the U.S. ‘forbidding’ guns from the premises, but are then angered and confused when a gun-toting criminal walks right past it.
“Taking firearms away from law-abiding citizens does nothing to stop dangerous criminals who obtain their guns illegally,” opposition Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said in a statement. “The vast majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms. Nothing the Trudeau Liberals announced today addresses this problem.
True. More laws and more signs don’t do anything of substance, but disarming people does: It makes them victims.
How many new victims did Justin Trudeau just create?
