Just like British prime minister Tony Blair found with foxhunting, when you don’t understand what you are banning, your ban won’t work. Now Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced restrictions on the wrong guns.
Canadians were appalled and outraged following the recent mass killing in Nova Scotia. Trudeau promised action. This is his action:
As well as around 1,500 specific makes of firearm which Trudeau calls ‘assault-style’, it also bans firearms with a bore 20mm or greater and firearms that produce muzzle energy greater than 10,000 Joules. The 20mm rule covers some 12-gauge shotguns, which are well outside the spirit of even this kneejerk ban.
Trudeau says hunters “don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer”, but gun owners point out that AR-15s have been illegal to hunt with since the 1970s and can only be used on approved shooting ranges. He is vague about what ‘assault-style’ means.
Now Canadian shooting organisations are calling for the official, Bill Blair, who made the blunder to resign, as well as the revocation of Trudeau’s order.
Legal challenge underway:
Trudeau says there will be a two-year amnesty period to allow people who already own the guns to comply. His Liberal Party promised a buyback programme in the last election, which could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The government admits it doesn’t know how many guns are included, so can’t say how much the buyback will cost.
None of this would have affected the Nova Scotia mass murderer. His guns were illegal anyway.
