Bill C-71 won’t keep us safer

Dear Editor:

Re: “Concerned About Gun Violence” (Courier/Herald, April 30) by South Okanagan-West Kootenay federal Liberal candidate Connie Denesiuk.

Although the recent shootings in Penticton and Salmon Arm are tragic, talk about gun control and political stances around it are very current and timely.

In what democracy should those who are tasked with enforcing laws (executive branch) also create them (Parliament legislative)? Is that not the whole point of maintaining three distinct and separate branches of government?

I support Andrew Scheer in removing RCMP authority to classify firearms and repealing magazine capacity restrictions. The International Practical Shooting Confederation utilizes 15-round magazines in most competitions, but here in Canada I am handicapped with 10-round magazines.

Current restrictions did not stop the Danforth shooter from using illegal 10-plus round magazines in his illegal, non-registered firearm.

You’re right that there is nothing in Bill C-71 that would restrict hunting activity per se. However, extending background checks beyond five years may restrict people who have matured and/or reformed from obtaining a possession-and- acquisition licence in the first place, and is likely to backlog already slow chief firearms officers from issuing possession and acquisition licences in a timely manner.

As discussed by Senator Donald Plett, the current system is being under utilized with very little actual “checking” happening because RCMP do not have the proper resources.

Your words are the epitome of what is wrong with the Liberal view of firearms owners.

“The problem with that notion that all gun owners are law abiding — until one amongst them isn't.”

You see me as a ticking time-bomb, one bad day away from becoming a criminal. The biggest problem with this, besides the obvious disrespect, is that the evidence just doesn’t support it. As reported to Parliament by Dr. Gary Mauser, law-abiding Canadian gun owners are less than onethird as likely to commit murder as other Canadians.

“Over the 16-year period (1997-2012), a Special Request to Statistics Canada found that licensed gun owners had a homicide rate of 0.60 per 100,000 licensed gun owners. Over the same period, the average national homicide rate (including gun owners) was 1.81 per 100,000 people.”

As you say, hunters do want to keep Canadians safer. So do you, so do I. The problem is that there is nothing in Bill C-71 that will keep Canadians safer. Gun bans will not keep us safer either.

Justin Trudeau's emphasis on evidencebased policies helped pave the way to a Liberal victory in the last election. It is a shame he never followed through on it. Derek Henderson

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