Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced Thursday that 324 more “assault-style firearms” have been added to Canada's list of banned guns.
Defense Minister Bill Blair has suggested that legally purchased but now banned weapons may be confiscated and shipped to Ukraine for use against the Russian invaders.
Prime Minister Blair: “We have worked closely with our friends in Ukraine to ensure that we have access to weapons that are intended for use in combat.'' said.
“The Department of Defense will begin working with Canadian companies that have the weapons Ukraine needs and are already covered by the Assault Firearms Compensation Program to get these weapons out of Canada and into the hands of Ukrainians. ''' he said.
Prime Minister Blair said Canada's ruling Liberal Party checked with the Ukrainian side in October, and the Ukrainian side “confirmed that some of the weapons involved in the program were indeed fit for purpose.”
gun added The prohibited list includes semi-automatic weapons with “sustained fire capability.” Owners must surrender before the end of the amnesty period on October 30, 2025.
“The best thing we can do to honor the memories of those lost in mass shootings is to work on gun control and limit access to the very weapons used in these horrific crimes.” LeBlanc said.
“Our goal is to prevent another mass shooting from destroying communities and families in Canada,” he said.
Leblanc is hint Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the 1989 mass shooting at the École Polytechnique. The perpetrator ordered all the men to leave the classroom and shot and killed the remaining 14 women.
Canadian gun rights groups criticized the expansion of the banned list as a theatrical stunt that does nothing to improve public safety.
Wes Winkel of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association said According to CTV News, the government's move could have a “devastating impact on our industry.”
“I think anger and disappointment are definitely the two most appropriate emotions. You rarely see these types of guns used in crimes,” Winkel said.
“This is strictly an attempt to appease Canadian urban voters,” he charged. “Public safety has no reason to be concerned about these firearms being distributed.”
Conservative MP Raquel Dancho says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scapegoating “legal and vetted hunters, sport shooters, and Indigenous peoples who have used firearms safely and legally for generations.” He said he was trying to hide his vulnerability to crime by doing so.
“After nine years of Prime Minister Trudeau's reckless policies, he has created a crime wave in Canada. Violent crime has spiked by more than 50 per cent and gun crime has soared by 116 per cent,” she said.
“Prime Minister Trudeau's recent unwarranted attacks on legal Canadians and his continued turning a blind eye to actual gun criminals continue to terrorize and cost lives as a result of Prime Minister Trudeau's catch-and-release policies.” “It's an insult to the thousands of victims of gun violence,” she said.
“It is unfortunate that the federal government has decided to strengthen firearms policy that is not based on evidence-based public safety decisions,” said Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery.
“The federal government chooses to commit scarce resources to combating the criminal use of firearms, including strengthening our borders to combat gun trafficking, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of firearms used in violent crimes. Instead of once again choosing to focus its attention on undermining law-abiding firearm ownership in Alberta and across Canada,” Amery said.
The Alberta government has refused to participate in a federally mandated gun buyback program. Manitoba and Saskatchewan also said they would resist the plan.
“This is typical Liberal divide-and-conquer politics. They know they don't have time and Canadians don't have money. They know the Conservatives will abolish everything in 10 months.” ” Paid Tracy Wilson of the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights (CCFR) hinted at a widely expected Conservative victory in the upcoming election.
“They have not used their board orders to address the everyday violence plaguing Canada, they have not taken action against repeat violent offenders, and they have not responded to law enforcement's pleas. . Nothing,” Wilson complained.
“The Liberal Party has made it a habit to destroy Canada's democratic process for its own political maneuvering,” she said.
LeBlanc suggested Thursday that the Trudeau government is looking to ban the SKS, which remains a very popular hunting rifle. the liberal party tried to Prohibited He quietly passed a last-minute amendment to gun control legislation with a plan to phase out rifles in 2022, but when the scheme was discovered, he backed out after massive public outcry.
LeBlanc acknowledged that the main obstacle to banning the SKS is that First Nations and Inuit hunters use the weapon, so it might be politically incorrect to take it away from them. .
