Once upon a time, Canada’s gun laws weren’t completely awful. There were some areas where they sucked, but in some ways, they were more lenient than ours. Short-barreled rifles, for example, weren’t restricted at all. One Canadian friend has an AR that would be an NFA item here.
Now, they have handgun bans among many other things that have crossed beyond the “completely awful” line.
What’s more, as NSSF’s Larry Keane notes, the handgun ban–something touted as being essential to combat crime–won’t exactly work as advertised.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is – again – promising strict new gun control measures he claims are needed to stop criminals.
A unilateral ban on the import of handguns into Canada was announced, freezing out Canadians that follow the law and purchase handguns legally. Nothing in the measure, though, actually addresses criminals or the illegal networks that smuggle ill-gotten firearms into Canada and perpetuate crime there.
Tyrannical Mini-King
Prime Minister Trudeau slapped a ban on handgun imports until proposed legislation that would ban the sale and purchase of handguns, among other gun control measures, can be voted on by the Canadian Parliament. The import ban was a knee-jerk reaction after Canadians rushed to buy firearms when the Trudeau administration introduced legislation to end handgun sales.
Prime Minister Trudeau isn’t waiting for a debate or a vote. He’s operating by executive fiat. He’s acting like a mini-tyrant, and it’s not the first time he’s trampled on Canadian’s ability to own guns or even protest their own government.
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Prime Minister Trudeau’s oppressive edict and proposed legislation doesn’t actually address crime or criminal networks. The fact is, the United States government ensures that handgun exports to Canada are for legitimate sales. U.S. exports to Canada are vetted by the U.S. Commerce Department and approved Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) with end-user checks. That means if the recipient of the exported handguns isn’t a legitimate and lawful business, the exports aren’t approved to leave the United States. Criminals aren’t importing handguns from U.S. manufacturers. Criminal networks are obtaining them illegally. NSSF, as the firearm and ammunition trade association, wants these illegal networks stopped.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that Trudeau doesn’t actually care about combatting violence. For him, it’s merely a pretext he can use to infringe on the unprotected right to keep and bear arms all Canadians have.
See, people like him like handgun bans because handguns are equalizers.
They allow the average man to have the means to protect himself readily at hand. While Canada doesn’t value things like concealed carry, a handgun can be transported unobtrusively and unnoticed even without laws permitting it.
And that’s something Trudeau cannot tolerate.
Now, I’m not going to say Trudeau is planning a totalitarian dictatorship or anything. I think he’d love that kind of power, regardless of what he may say one way or another, but I can’t say that’s his goal.
But what I will say, though, is that not only will he set the stage for such an eventuality, he really won’t do anything about crime.
After all, as Keane notes, all he’s doing is going after law-abiding handgun owners. This handgun ban won’t actually impact the criminals who smuggle guns in from the US regardless of the laws in both nations. It practically ignores it.
Worse, though, it actually makes it more profitable for those smugglers. Without competition from those selling stolen guns, they can demand higher prices and get them.
So great job. The handgun ban in Canada is going to work exactly like we thought it would.
