Canada needs sophisticated discussion on firearm ban, says gun magazine editor
Debate should be over whether the ban has any positive impact, says Daniel Fritter of Calibre Magazine
On Friday, the Liberal government withdrew a series of controversial amendments to pending firearms legislation, Bill C-21, which some firearms owners say would have unfairly targeted hunters and farmers.
C-21, as originally drafted, was designed to ban handguns. The amendments expanded its scope, and would have had the effect of banning a number of long guns widely used by hunters.
Ottawa says it will push ahead with Bill C-21 to ban handgun sales, but Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said Friday his party's goal is to pressure the Liberal government to lift the ban on firearms like handguns.
"If, God forbid, he ever got a majority, Trudeau would ban hunting rifles, and he would ban all civilian firearms ownership in Canada," Poilievre said.
"That's his agenda, he's made it clear, and we won't let him do it."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he supports both a national handgun ban and a move to restrict "assault-style" weapons, but he described the government's management of the file as a "failure."
In a statement, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the proposed amendments prompted "considerable discussion about the best way to move forward" and "legitimate concerns" were raised by critics "about the need for more consultation and debate."
Daniel Fritter, editor of Calibre Magazine, which covers firearms in Canada, spoke to host Chris Walker on CBC's Daybreak South Friday about the withdrawal of the amendments.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
What do you think of today's news?
Surprisingly unsurprising. There was a ton of pressure — the government was certainly facing it from every direction. The opposition parties were unified in their opposition to it, so there didn't seem to be a clear path forward for them.
But at the same time, this is quite literally the first time we've seen this government even do so much as just take their foot off the gas pedal on gun-ban policy.
The government said we need to ban these guns. You would expect the government to know that if you're going to do this, this absolutely is going to be effective in saving lives.
So you have to confront that if by withdrawing it, they either didn't know that or they're now totally OK relegating a bunch of people to die because of the political pressure.
What do you make of Pierre Poilievre's assertion that [the Liberals'] goal is still to ban civilian firearms in Canada generally?
He's entirely correct because they [the Liberals] have already decided that you can't have handguns — they were going to take away all of these other guns.
In all of these discussions — even Mr. Poilievre's — there's no discussion about whether or not we should take these guns away from people.
The discussion is about whether or not taking guns away from people has a positive impact — that never seems to enter the debate, which is very frustrating.
People who are in the centre or on the left and who don't like the U.S. gun lobby are worried that Canadian gun advocates will adopt an NRA [National Rifle Association in the U.S.]-style position and will lobby against C-21. How well-founded are those concerns in your view?
Entirely not — they're just founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of gun ownership in Canada, which I don't blame anyone for.
It's an incredibly complicated subject that the Liberal government doesn't have a vested interest in really illuminating for people, because it would make a lot of these policies seem superfluous: you can't have a gun in Canada, period.
What frustrates me is that in 2015, there wasn't a huge concern over U.S.-style gun policies per se, unless it was that the whole notion has been broached by Justin Trudeau.
What bothers me is that as we see the anti-gun factions say we need to pass these laws to prevent us from turning into America, the pro-gun side is starting to echo American sentiments.
The whole thing is just robbing Canadian gun culture of its inherent Canadian side.
Given that those amendments have now been withdrawn, what kinds of conversations could the Liberal government have?
If they [the Liberals] withdraw all of Bill C-21 in its entirety, they probably regain the majority of the credibility they've lost throughout all of this with gun owners.
Alternatively, I think you'd have to have something like Marco Mendicino's resignation to try to regain any kind of credibility.
With files from Daybreak South and John Paul Tasker