Overdue or overreaction?
I have stated many times in the past that I would support a gun ban if the Justin Trudeau government chose to implement one, but in light of what has finally been rolled out, I must take it back.
How could they be so foolish? To expend so much political capital on “assault” weapons is a complete squandering of resources. The real danger has always been handguns.
Yes, every decade or so, some maniac goes wild and indiscriminately kills innocent people with an automatic rifle, but this sort of killing happens almost daily with handguns in some parts of Toronto. Shouldn’t that take precedence?
Even if you argue that assault weapons are a serious threat in this country, the “grandfathering” aspect of the new law will render it moot. These guns will still exist, still be available for rampages, or to be stolen and used later. Their lethal potential is in no way diminished.
It’s obvious that the minority Liberal government tried to craft a law as inoffensive as possible, but, in doing so, came up with something that is sure to prove ineffective. Paul Graham, Mississauga
Re Eliminate machine guns, don’t grandfather them, Mallick, May 6
First of all, “machine guns,” which are capable of fully automatic gunfire, have been prohibited and unavailable in Canada for quite some time.
This “widely popular ban” you describe seeks mainly to ban AR15 style semi-automatic sporting rifles. Yes, they are sporting rifles: they are only capable of firing one shot per trigger pull and magazines are limited to five rounds in Canada. Clearly not designed to “kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time,” wouldn’t you say?
How does preventing licenced, lawabiding Canadian citizens from owning and purchasing firearms for the purpose of hunting, target shooting and sport shooting benefit women in any way?
You are right about one thing: “gun butchery doesn’t stop.” But taking guns away from law-abiding citizens who are screened by the Canadian Police Information Centre will not stop it.
We need to tighten up border security. We need expand mental health services. We need to establish youth programs to keep youth away from gangs. We need to place more emphasis on the family unit; kids need good parental role models. We need domestic abuse complaints to be taken more seriously.
We are not the U.S. Our gun regulations are robust and sufficient. We do not need more laws; we need to better enforce the ones already in place. Emily Wong, Toronto
Public Safety Canada launched an engagement process in 2018 regarding this potential ban. The report is available on the Public Safety website.
There were six overall key findings. First was that most respondents did not support a ban. Next was that a ban would target law-abiding owners and not greatly affect crime reduction.
The balance of the key findings of the report were a need to address the underlying causes of gun violence, a need to collect and share data on gun crime, collaboration with the firearms community and industry, and the need for a multi-faceted approach, rather than a ban in isolation.
Cleary, Public Safety and our prime minister have ignored their own report and are, yet again, simply pandering to special interests. Eric Cameron, Foothills, Alta.
Re Ford criticizes Trudeau’s gun ban, May 3 Ontario Premier Doug Ford joins federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in criticizing the Liberal government’s gun control initiative, citing that the money would be better spent on more controls at our U.S. border.
Successive Conservative governments did nothing to strengthen our border controls, and, in fact, dismantled any progress made by prior Liberal governments to restrict the flow of weapons into Canada.
Conservative governments are as tone deaf on this topic as they are on climate change. There should be no acceptance in Canada of military-grade assault weapons, period.
The regulations are a step in the right direction. Do we need more controls at the U.S. border. Absolutely. But we know it won’t be a Conservative government that puts those controls in place.
These are trying times. We have a minority government trying to manage a pandemic while also moving forward with an agenda that most Canadians support. Let’s applaud them and ask for more. Carole Arsenault, Hamilton
A few weeks ago, Canadians woke to the news of a horrendous mass murder of 22 Nova Scotians, many of whom were shot by a denturist.
The Liberal government quickly responded with legislation banning assault weapons and with a promise that more comprehensive legislation would be forthcoming.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was immediately castigated by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Tory leadership hopeful Peter MacKay, as well as many Conservative premiers, for opportunistically pushing his antigun agenda that violates the rights of law-abiding Canadian gun-owners.
Sadly, we now hear about a 55-yearold tax attorney near Edmonton who shot and killed a woman and her 13year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself.
What many Conservative leaders seem to miss is that gun control should not be a partisan issue. Neither of these perpetrators were criminals or gang members. Up until the moment they lost control for some unknown reason, they were, by all measures, law-abiding Canadians. Doug Zuliani, Ottawa
Doug Ford suggests a better use of money would be to stop gun smuggling at the borders.
Perhaps he is unaware that only one of our recent mass shootings was done with an illegally purchased gun, which was bought by the shooter from a licenced American gun owner, not smuggled.
The rest of our mass shooters have been legally licenced gun owners, killing people with legally purchased guns.
A better use of Ford’s time would be to continue to focus on COVID-19 testing and deaths in long-term-care facilities. Ian Thurston, Barrie
If gun owners with “military-style weapons” choose to keep them, they must be held fully responsible, should these guns be stolen or lost and used to commit crimes. Cecil Lindo, Thornhill
Re Much more must be done, Editorial, May 3 Although I agree that much more needs to be done regarding violence involving handguns, this first step toward stronger gun regulations serves to solidify our collective resolve to continue to identify as a nation of peace.
By their very nature, assault weapons stand for the abhorrent ability to annihilate as many people as possible in a most violent way.
Why would anyone have the desire to own such a weapon? Julia Bowkun, Toronto
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