Juno News - December 11, 2019Bill Blair is targeting law-abiding gun owners
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Summary
Justin Trudeau's new public safety minister, Bill Blair, has the impossible task of trying to sell a sweeping gun grab that just doesn't make sense to Canadians. Bill Blair was asked about his government's gun control plans during question period on Monday and this is what he said: "We know that there is much more that needs to be done and in particular we have spoken about the presence of military-style assault weapons having no place in Canadian society. They're designed for the battlefield and not for our communities."
Transcript
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Justin Trudeau's new Public Safety Minister, Bill Blair, has the impossible task of trying
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to sell a sweeping gun grab that just doesn't make sense to Canadians. It's the gun grab that
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was announced during the Liberals' campaign and then reiterated in the speech from the throne
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this week. The government is going to prohibit what it calls military-style assault weapons,
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though has not yet provided a definition for what that means. This definition will be particularly
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important because assault rifles are already prohibited in Canada. What will actually be
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prohibited are guns that the government simply doesn't like. Bill Blair was asked about his
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government's gun control plans during question period on Monday and this is what he said.
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We know that there is much more that needs to be done and in particular we have spoken about
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the presence of military-style assault weapons having no place in Canadian society. They're
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designed for the battlefield and not for our communities. For more than four decades,
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police chiefs across the country have been calling for the banning of these weapons.
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Mr. Speaker, we will continue to listen to Canadians and we will have more to say about these next steps
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in the very near future. Not only promising that the plan will be announced very soon,
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as in this is an imminent priority for the government, but he had the audacity to claim
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that police chiefs are the ones calling for a ban. The police chiefs for four decades, he says,
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have been wanting to get military-style assault weapons, as he terms them, off the streets. Now,
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this is particularly interesting because just in August, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police
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came out against a federal handgun ban specifically. That was what was on the table at the time.
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The rationale was that gun bans just don't work and this was recognized by the association
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representing Canadian police chiefs. The police chiefs that Bill Blair is now saying are behind
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the government's attempt to ban guns. One of the things that Bill Blair still cannot answer
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is who is going to decide. It sounds at this point like it is going to be the government
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that lays out which makes and models of firearms are going to be prohibited and which will still
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be allowed under Canada's already rigorous gun control scheme. Now, this is a reversal from what
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Justin Trudeau so often said when criticizing the conservative approach to guns. He said that the
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conservatives want politicians to decide what guns should be allowed when it should actually be up
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to the experts. But now, take a listen to this answer that Bill Blair attempted to give in a
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Who will determine which guns are on this list that you are going to ban? Who's going to determine
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what is a military-style assault weapon? Because there is no clear definition. Is that you?
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There are clear principles that will be applied and the determination of what weapons will be
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included on that list and that information will come forward when we bring forward that list.
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It sounds a lot like the liberals are going to be the ones making that call. Moreover, Bill Blair says
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that it's going to be an order in council. Now, this is basically a cabinet directive, meaning not
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something that will be debated or discussed in parliament, meaning not something that can be
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vetted in committee, not something that opposition members can challenge, something that the government
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will just put in by executive fiat. Now, as for what guns are going to make it on the list, there was
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one particular model that was being asked of Bill Blair and of Justin Trudeau, specifically the Ruger Mini 14.
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Now, this is a non-restricted semi-automatic firearm. It shoots one bullet at a time like every other
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semi-automatic firearm. It's often used in Canada for hunting. The Mini 14 can be made to look like the
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AR-15. In fact, they shoot the same type of ammunition generally, the .223 round. But the Mini 14 was the
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firearm used in the Le Colpolle Technique massacre, which just had its 30th anniversary earlier this month.
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Trudeau said in his remarks that guns like the one used will be prohibited. Bill Blair was asked
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specifically whether he would prohibit the Mini 14, which is currently non-restricted in Canada,
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and he couldn't give a straight answer one way or another. This is what he said in that scrum.
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There is no specific commitment on banning the Ruger Mini 14 today, at least.
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Let me be very specific. We have an absolute and unwavering commitment to bring about a prohibition
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of military assault weapons like the one that was used at that event and has also been used in other
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Now, it could be that Bill Blair has no idea what the plans are. It could be that they haven't decided.
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But there was a specific answer given by Bill Blair as to why the government is not being more
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forthright about its plans. And he said that he doesn't want Canadians to run out and buy up guns
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that are currently legal. He said this in the scrum.
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When the list is published, there will be very clear articulation of what weapons will be
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prohibited. But again, what I do not want to precipitate is individuals going out and acquiring
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these weapons before the publishing of that list.
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So the government doesn't want people to go out and buy things that are legal if they have the
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licenses to do so for reasons that make no sense. Bill Blair has said in other interviews that he
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doesn't want to demonize law-abiding gun owners. In fact, in an iPolitics piece, he said,
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this will take up to two years to fully put into place because he wants to make sure that law-abiding
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gun owners have time to comply. But he's acknowledging that law-abiding gun owners are
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willing to comply. In other words, that they are not the problem, which is what we've known time and
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time again, and which is why the police chiefs are not on board with a sweeping gun ban, even though
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Bill Blair is trying to claim that they are. Bill Blair is simply not telling the truth when it
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comes to the gun file, and it is law-abiding gun owners like me and like many of you watching who are
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going to pay the price. True North is not going to give up on this fight. We're not a firearms
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advocacy group, but I myself am a firearms owner, and this is a question of freedom, and it's a question
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of government ineptitude when it comes to lawmakers blaming the law-abiding for the problems caused by
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criminals. We are in this fight for you, but we can't do it alone. If you can chip in to support
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our efforts, head on over to tnc.news slash donate and join the Andrew Lawton Heritage Club.