Editor:
In Canada, firearms ownership is a privilege and not a right like it is in the U.S. This makes possible changes and discussions around use and role legal firearms have in our culture. In the U.S.A. it is lawful to use firearms as a means of self-defense, not so here in Canada. These two tenets of the Canadian Firearms Act keep us out of the nightmare the U.S.A. continues to subject itself to.
Both Canada and Mexico are subject to an unending supply of illegal firearms smuggled in from the U.S.A. for the black market and criminal use. There is little evidence to suggest firearms recovered from Canadian crime scenes are sourced from legal owners. Chelsea Parsons, author and vice president of Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress (interviewed on CBC Radio Jan. 12, 2019), claims 98 per cent of guns recovered from Canadian crime scenes can be traced back to the U.S.A. smuggled illegally into Canada. She claims Mexico is plagued by the same problem, with 70 per cent of firearms recovered from crime scenes sourced illegally from the U.S.A.
The recent ban is an attack on legal gun owners in Canada because it is a red herring based on inaccurate information. Mr. Trudeau took this move straight out of Mr. Trump’s playbook, implementing a policy intended to appease his political base without regard for facts and judicious investigation. How disappointing this occurred so quickly and seemingly in response to the tragedy in Nova Scotia, and thus misleading Canadians. Sadly, gun control in Canada remains a political football that gets punted back and forth between the two major parties. All the while criminal use of illegal firearms keeps on keeping on.
Rob Waller, Gibsons
