Juno News - Trudeau’s handgun ban won’t make Canadians safer

00:00:00.000 We mentioned very briefly in yesterday's show a topic that I promised we'd revisit today and I

00:00:13.820 am revisiting today and that is Bill C-21 and this is the firearms legislation that Justin

00:00:19.780 Trudeau announced the so-called freeze on handgun purchases and I say so-called and I say freeze

00:00:27.800 because I want us to actually be very clear about what has been proposed and what's in this bill and

00:00:34.160 we're going to break it down in just a moment but I want you to hear first off and we played this

00:00:38.260 yesterday how Justin Trudeau framed what it is that he's doing here. We're introducing legislation to

00:00:47.300 implement a national freeze on handgun ownership. What this means is that it will no longer be

00:00:55.700 possible to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in Canada. In other words we're capping

00:01:08.020 the market for handguns.

00:01:14.420 There was that weird pause before the applause started that makes me think there might have

00:01:18.240 been someone just standing out of frame reminding people no no now's the time you you have to clap

00:01:23.120 here but the way he talks about it it's as though no longer will you be able to have one a freeze on

00:01:28.660 ownership he said and then you hear further okay it's a freeze on purchasing and then you read the

00:01:33.380 bill and there's a fair bit of confusion there especially when it comes to sport shooting so

00:01:38.020 first off I want to drill down into what it is that was actually announced and who better to do that

00:01:43.440 with the answer is no one than Tracy Wilson of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. Tracy it's good

00:01:49.900 to talk to you as always this is something that we knew was coming in some form I mean the Liberals

00:01:55.440 tried in the last Parliament to allow municipalities to ban handguns which was something that you know

00:02:00.940 Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal were asking for this is a significant escalation from that.

00:02:06.780 Yeah so as you know they started off talking about municipal handgun bans giving cities and towns the

00:02:13.900 ability to ban handguns within their territory which would basically be a bylaw prohibiting the storage

00:02:20.500 and transportation within their borders so of course that didn't work out Alberta Saskatchewan a

00:02:26.660 bunch of provinces went ahead and put in legislation preemptively to block them from being able to do

00:02:32.460 that so then in the last election cycle they switched to talking about maybe doing a provincial ban of

00:02:37.900 course Quebec is all over it cheering for it and almost every other province I'm sure would say no

00:02:44.220 so they knew they weren't getting anywhere with this it would be impossible to do it's kind of funny

00:02:50.060 it's a little bit of a gut punch to Stephen Del Duca here in Ontario he's been running that as a big part of

00:02:56.060 his campaign but this is what they've decided to do and I mean at the end of the day I think all Canadians

00:03:02.500 can agree we don't want gangbangers violent criminals abusers people like that to have guns

00:03:08.740 but closing the market on legal handguns isn't a public safety measure it's political theater.

00:03:15.060 Yeah and I'm glad you mentioned that because one of the things that the liberals do and it's a very

00:03:19.220 smart move politically is they whenever they're putting something that restricts gun ownership for 0.99

00:03:23.780 law-abiding gun owners they also put all these things that are uncontroversial in there as well

00:03:28.740 so that people can look and like I mean for example in Bill C-21 they talk about the border I'd say not

00:03:34.020 nearly in as strong enough terms as they should they talk about domestic violence they talk about

00:03:39.380 the firearm situations of people that may be at risk of violence for others what they call red flag

00:03:45.540 laws and in in a lot of cases I mean let's talk about red flag laws here because when you look at

00:03:50.180 the way the liberals frame this you say well yeah I want absolutely there to be the ability to take

00:03:55.060 guns away from people that pose a risk to others but that already exists yes yeah of course so

00:04:01.700 that already exists I mean you and I both know I'm a handgun owner I'm an AR-15 owner I own all kinds of

00:04:07.300 guns if something was to happen here and my husband was to call the police or the RCMP or the Canadian

00:04:13.860 Firearms Program and say hey Tracy Wilson is being violent with me uh I'm in danger she's a violent person 1.00

00:04:20.580 you know exactly what that's going to look like it's an ERT response at my door my door being kicked

00:04:25.780 in my guns being seized you know seize them now ask questions later and of course I'd have to fight to

00:04:31.380 get them back all of that already exists in Canada and you know in in an emergency a crisis situation of

00:04:39.060 course you've got 9-1-1 like this is this is literally existing framework that um that we've already

00:04:45.540 got in Canada and stats can data shows us that less than one percent of all domestic calls even have

00:04:53.220 a firearm present at the address let alone used or threatened can you say that again stats can data

00:04:59.460 shows us that less than one percent of all domestic violence calls in Canada even have a firearm present

00:05:06.020 at the address let alone used or threatened yeah so it's solving a problem that simply doesn't exist

00:05:12.340 yeah and I think all of this is ultimately padding for what the liberals really want to do which is

00:05:18.340 that the handgun ban and and we know from 2020 and I explored this extensively in the documentary

00:05:25.060 series we put out last year assaulted the order in council an overnight ban on some 1500 types of

00:05:30.980 firearms which they later expanded a couple years later uh to this day the promised buyback program

00:05:36.740 hasn't materialized so people like me like you and like uh dozens and hundreds and hundreds of

00:05:42.180 gun business owners that we spoke to and that also are just sitting on this unable to do anything

00:05:47.220 with it this is different they're proposing this through legislation which means that it still has

00:05:51.700 to go through the proper channels which means it's still legal in Canada if you're licensed to go out

00:05:56.500 and buy a handgun right now so I mean I don't want them to be more aggressive with it but it does

00:06:01.700 strike me as odd that on one hand is this pressing threat that is causing carnage in the streets but on

00:06:07.140 the other hand not so pressing that we don't have the benefit of time for people to go out and buy more

00:06:12.180 of time because they are in droves right now yeah well that's it I mean like look if this was

00:06:17.940 a crisis if this was something that Canada absolutely needed for public safety measures if

00:06:23.620 this was a credible public safety policy then he would have tried to do the same thing he did with

00:06:29.460 the may 2020 gun ban it would just be like hey that's it you know we don't need handguns in this

00:06:33.860 country we're coming around them up and that's the end of it but of course as you know we've got the

00:06:38.660 2020 gun ban tied up in federal court it's not going the way they thought it would go

00:06:44.660 the majority of our case is based on the fact that they've used an OIC which circumvents democracy

00:06:50.900 totally avoids the entire parliamentary process and so yeah so they they've taken a different route

00:06:56.740 with this which of course gives us time to fight it gives us time to stretch it out suggest amendments

00:07:03.380 to it in the house of commons and the senate and see where we go from here but in the meantime yeah

00:07:08.500 go shopping you you mentioned one very compelling stat I want to play a clip for you Tracy of

00:07:15.300 something Justin Trudeau said this morning about how the criticism of this is all coming from a place

00:07:21.300 of misinformation your message be to firearms groups that are saying you know this handgun ban

00:07:28.740 continues to just target lawful gun owners and you know it's you know similar criticism to other gun

00:07:33.220 legislation saying it's not going to target people that are breaking the law anyways I think people need

00:07:37.300 to be careful about misinformation and disinformation in this we've explicitly and specifically not targeted

00:07:44.420 law-abiding firearms owners because those who currently own and operate handguns safely and store them

00:07:51.060 safely are not at all targeted by this legislation we're simply saying that we are freezing the

00:07:57.380 market and in the future it'll not be possible to buy sell transfer or import handguns in Canada

00:08:03.540 there have been too many tragedies Canadians need to see safer communities and this is

00:08:08.500 a comprehensive multi-step path towards that so I mean that the relevant part of that law-abiding gun

00:08:16.740 owners are not targeted by this yet as I understand it and you can correct me if I'm wrong Tracy once

00:08:22.340 this bill passes if I go to a gun store I will not be able to buy a handgun which strikes me as

00:08:28.100 targeting a law-abiding gun owner so am I missing something here no in fact this legislation solely

00:08:34.420 targets legal gun owners and here's the other thing Andrew like I'm a middle-aged mom and a grandma

00:08:39.700 you know I I do a lot of sports shooting maybe I decide I'm not going to do that anymore I'm not really into

00:08:44.660 it I haven't been out to the range in over a year myself let's say I decide I want to sell my handguns

00:08:50.740 I want to move on to something else I'm just not interested in it anymore I can't so now not only

00:08:56.500 can you not buy any more but you're forced to keep the ones you've got at the same time if I say okay

00:09:01.460 fine I'll keep them I take them to to my deathbed then what my family is going to be forced to turn them

00:09:08.340 over to the police for destruction or have them deactivated those are the options zero compensation

00:09:13.940 and I mean I've got thousands of dollars of handguns here right so yeah I I think he he missed an

00:09:20.580 opportunity to really be a hero here he he gave away a really important self-own at the very beginning of

00:09:27.380 his press conference when he said you know for seven years we've enacted all these measures all this gun

00:09:33.140 control including the May 2020 gun ban and yet gun crime continues to rise in this country

00:09:38.740 well doesn't that tell you that what you're doing isn't being it's not effective it's not working

00:09:45.460 and his that's a cell phone right so his response to his own issue is to enact more of it you know that

00:09:53.060 he missed the opportunity here he could have said you know what we're going to get tough on criminals

00:09:58.020 we're going to get tough on the border we're going to reduce smuggling we're going to invest in at-risk

00:10:05.060 communities initiatives for kids to to keep them out of gangs we're going to do a whole slew of really

00:10:12.180 important measures and uh and that's how we're going to keep Canadians safe the reason he doesn't

00:10:16.980 do it is it takes more than one short election cycle to show positive change if we talk about the

00:10:22.820 longer term aspect of this if handguns are going to be essentially closed off that market's going to

00:10:28.580 be closed off plus a huge amount of semi-automatic rifles were caught up in the um order and council

00:10:36.100 in May 2020 does this look i mean how i predict this is going and you may have a different perspective

00:10:42.100 is that they're basically trying to phase out the restricted category of firearms so for people that

00:10:47.540 don't know you've got your non-restricted your hunting rifles and so on your restricteds which

00:10:51.940 are handguns and and some long guns and then you've got your prohibiteds which for all intents

00:10:56.340 and purposes are the ones you can't get and it seems like that restricted category is getting very

00:11:00.820 very small now yeah well that's exactly it and you know what happens when that restricted category gets

00:11:07.060 smaller and obsolete is so do gun ranges you know we've got 4 600 gun ranges across this country

00:11:13.860 a lot of them are community owned um some of them are privately owned you've got an entire industry

00:11:21.460 that contributes 8.2 billion dollars to the canadian gdp that is basically literally just got cut in

00:11:29.380 half if not more um in the last two years under the trudeau regime and for what for political

00:11:36.180 opportunity to punish people that aren't likely to vote for him anyways you know like i said he had a

00:11:42.020 real opportunity here to do something credible to make canada safer country and he failed let's just

00:11:49.860 talk about the way we go after this i mean we don't have as everyone knows the the second amendment

00:11:54.500 in canada that protects in a constitutional way firearms rights i know you've got a legal challenge

00:11:59.780 against the order and council but is your view on this that there is a legal solution or does there

00:12:05.220 have to be a political solution a politician that's prepared to stand up and uh speak out against the

00:12:09.700 media that don't seem to understand or want to understand guns against a lot of the bad faith

00:12:14.500 activists and just say no we we are standing up for this law-abiding community yeah i mean ultimately

00:12:20.420 a political solution of course is a is a more permanent longer solution there is no way to evergreen

00:12:25.780 this even in c21 there's a measure there to um you know to prevent future governments from um

00:12:33.940 reclassifying firearms to a lesser class um but with enough political will of course that can

00:12:39.140 always be changed over there is no such thing as evergreening um if there is a way to challenge this

00:12:46.340 in the courts of course the ccfr um always says that we will do whatever it takes to stand up for

00:12:51.300 legal canadian gun owners and we mean it when we say it we mean it um but ultimately i think going

00:12:57.700 through the parliamentary process itself is long and arduous c71 took 14 months to get through the system

00:13:04.260 um sorry i've had a lot of interviews today so i'm losing my voice um but we you know we're we're

00:13:11.380 going to be pushing against it we're going to be uh testifying against it we're going to be proposing

00:13:16.260 amendments you know we'll see what happens but of course with the ndp liberal coalition they can

00:13:21.700 basically do whatever they want to anybody they want in this country and there's not a lot we can do

00:13:25.700 about it so yeah we do need we need a new government well i i do want to let you go because i think your

00:13:30.660 voice is an important one so i don't want to take it away from you here but uh just in closing tracy

00:13:35.220 let me ask you one final question here because the government said and i thought this was another

00:13:40.420 cell phone that they don't expect there to be a run on handguns because they're so difficult to get

00:13:45.700 and so heavily regulated which i think proves that we don't need the regulation but it also proves how

00:13:50.740 out of touch they are i know you have a lot of members who are gun owners uh gun business owners

00:13:54.740 tell me what they're experiencing in the last 24 hours well it's funny actually uh sf rc in

00:14:00.900 kingston which is a great gun shop uh they were at the shop until four o'clock in the morning last

00:14:05.540 night processing orders shooting supplies was there until midnight last night calgary shooting center has

00:14:12.100 a six hour lineup outside the store just to get in and look there are shipments of handguns coming in

00:14:18.980 and not even getting unloaded off the skid they're just gone they're gone before they even hit the floor

00:14:24.100 so uh yeah i i don't think this is going the way he thought it would and this is day one so you know

00:14:31.380 if if it does take until fall of 2020 or even longer with our with the work that we'll do to have this

00:14:38.980 passed i mean we may double our number of handgun ownerships in this country which already sits at 1.1

00:14:44.420 million legal handguns so that's great i always said that bill blair was probably like the greatest

00:14:48.580 canadian ar-15 salesman and i think now marco mendicino is the greatest uh canadian handgun

00:14:53.380 salesman so the liberals the liberals are great for the gun business in a roundabout way uh tracy

00:14:57.940 wilson keep up the fantastic work and thanks so much for coming on today thanks for the opportunity

00:15:03.220 thanks for listening to the andrew lawton show support the program by donating to true north

00:15:07.860 at www.tnc.news

00:15:14.420 you

Juno News - May 31, 2022

Trudeau’s handgun ban won’t make Canadians safer

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