00:00:30.000The Canadian federal government is gearing up for another gun ban, and this time they're targeting the SKS.
00:00:36.660They're not doing it with a big announcement on the 5 o'clock news or a straight-up public ban.
00:00:41.840They're doing it quietly through a so-called expert panel with a full rewrite of the firearms classification system
00:00:49.220and constant pressure from a Quebec anti-gun group that has been demanding the SKS be prohibited for years now.
00:00:56.940The SKS isn't some high-tech, tactical rifle.
00:01:00.920It's an old, simple, mid-century semi-auto with a fixed five-round magazine.
00:01:06.180It's been in Canada for decades. It's cheap. It's reliable.
00:01:10.140And that's exactly why regular hunters, rural families, and northern communities use it.
00:01:15.280A prominent gun control group is calling on Ottawa to immediately halt sales of the type of gun
00:01:21.160that was used in the recent deadly shooting in Montreal's Côte d'Ineges neighbourhood.
00:01:26.100a police officer a civilian and the suspect all died in the shooting and radio canada has
00:01:31.940confirmed with police sources the gun used by the suspect was a russian-made semi-automatic sks
00:01:38.980rifle that firearm is currently unrestricted and legally available for purchase in canada
00:01:45.300experts estimate there are hundreds of thousands in circulation across the country basically if
00:01:51.060If you're a gun owner in Canada and you own rifles, you've probably got an SKS.
00:01:55.740The SKS is most commonly used by Indigenous Canadians for hunting.
00:02:00.220And the reason for that, it is a fairly inexpensive firearm.
00:02:04.120Even the federal government's own panel must admit that Indigenous hunters rely on it because it's affordable, rugged, it works in the cold, and the ammo is easy to find.
00:02:16.140That right there is why the SKS has survived earlier bans.
00:02:20.040If the government tried to prohibit it years ago, they would have been in a direct fight with indigenous communities who depend on that rifle in particular for sustenance hunting.
00:02:31.100The government knew it. That's why in 2020, when they banned over 1,500 so-called assault-style weapons, the SKS wasn't on that list.
00:02:40.640Later, when they tried to slip the SKS into Bill C-21 through a last-minute amendment, indigenous leaders pushed back hard.
00:02:48.880and the government had to back off and that right there is the big red flag if a gun is really too
00:02:55.560dangerous then it should be too dangerous for everyone but the government tiptoes around the
00:03:01.460sks only because of the politics that tells you this isn't about public safety it's about optics
00:03:08.220gun control experts say the qualities that make the sks so popular among hunters also make it