Advocates for and against the latest federal government firearms bill share mixed reactions to the proposed law, which, if passed, would further restrict legal access to guns in Canada and create systems for marking individuals who may pose a risk for yourself or for others.
The federal government announced Bill C-21 on May 30, calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “one of the strongest measures in Canada’s history to keep guns away from our communities and to build a safer future for all.”
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino also said the legislation would “help reduce gun violence and keep Canadians safe”.
Since its introduction, Bill C-21 has been praised by proponents of gun control, who see it as a positive step forward in the fight against gun violence, while firearms advocacy groups say the bill is unfairly targeted at lawful gun owners and will do little to tackle crime.
Some law enforcement officials also have divided views on certain parts of the bill.
But what does Bill C-21 offer, and will it address the issue of gun violence in Canada meaningfully? CTVNews.ca addressed these and other issues raised by readers.
In this story:
WHAT WILL BILL C-21 DO?
A key measure in Bill C-21 is to “freeze” the sale, purchase or transfer of pistols in Canada, with the exception of a limited number of individuals and companies, without a total ban on their use.
The law will also create “red flag” and “yellow flag” laws, allowing an individual to apply for an emergency ban on weapons in court to immediately remove a person’s firearms for up to 30 days, and suspend his firearms license if they pose a risk to themselves or others.
The bill will also increase the maximum sentence to 14 years out of 10 for firearms-related offenses, such as smuggling, making it a crime to change a cartridge refill beyond its legal capacity, and banning certain copies of firearms that closely resemble real firearms. .
In addition to the bill, the federal government plans to move forward with its firearms repurchase program announced in 2020, after more than 1,500 models and variants of so-called “attack” firearms were banned as a result of the new Scotia mass shooting. However, the federal government extended the amnesty until October 30, 2023.
The term “style of attack” or “weapon of attack” is generally considered a political term, usually referring to a semi-automatic weapon. This compares to an “assault rifle”, which can be fully automatic, which means it can fire continuously while holding the trigger. Fully automatic firearms are banned in Canada.
HOW MANY WEAPONS USED IN CRIME ARE ILLEGAL?
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrote in its report to the Commissioner for Firearms for 2020 that there are more than 2.2 million holders of firearms licenses in Canada.
About half are in Ontario and Quebec, with another nearly a third in Alberta and British Columbia. There are approximately 1.1 million to 1.2 million registered pistols in Canada.
The rate of violent gun crimes has risen in Canada in recent years after declining for some time, according to a recent report from the Statistical Office of Canada. Pistols remain the most serious weapon used in most violent firearms crimes.
But in the same report, StatCan says there is little information to determine the source of the firearms used in the crime, including whether they were stolen, illegally purchased or smuggled. The provinces also do not require investigators to send firearms used in crimes to search.
However, police said that generally speaking, most of the firearms used for crimes were illegally acquired, including smuggled from the United States.
Addressing the parliamentary committee on public safety in February, National Police Federation President Brian Sove said the country-wide data was still needed, “law enforcement experience is that most of these weapons have been acquired illegally.”
As early as fiscal 2021-22, the Canadian Border Protection Agency confiscated 955 firearms, the most for each fiscal year after 2017-18.
Restricted gun license holder holds AR-15 at his home in Langley, British Columbia, 1 May 2020 CANADIAN PRESS / Jonathan Hayward
WHAT DO WEAPONS CONTROL CONNECTORS SAY?
The Coalition for Arms Control, founded after the massacre of the École Polytechnique in Montreal, in which a gunman killed 14 women, applauded the federal government for its bill “changing the game”, in particular the national ban on the sale and import of pistols.
“This proposed law represents a significant step forward, introducing important measures to reduce gun violence and strengthen Canadian values, as there is no ‘right to own’ weapons in this country,” said Wendy Cookier, president of the Coalition for Control. of weapons and a professor at the University of Toronto Metropolitan, said in a statement.
WHAT DO THE POLICE SAY?
While some opinion polls show that up to two-thirds of Canadians support a national gun ban, which Bill C-21 does not propose, police associations are less likely to support such a measure.
But even with a gun freeze, Chris Lewis, a public safety analyst and former Ontario police commissioner, told CTV Your Morning on Friday that adding more lawful owners will not affect criminals who do not. are interested in them. laws.
With the mass shooting in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people, including a pregnant mother, he noted that the attacker had acquired these firearms illegally from the United States.
“I don’t have any weapons anymore, but if we’re going to focus, let’s focus on the right things: criminals, smuggling, people who shouldn’t have guns,” he said.
Evan Bray, head of the Regina Police Department and co-chair of the Canadian Police Chiefs Firearms Committee, told CTVNews.ca on Thursday that the association supports a national approach to every firearm, unlike the one that leaves it. of provinces or municipalities to find out.
But while he sees positive aspects of Bill C-21 – such as new violations of firearms, tighter border controls and sanctions for smuggling and a ban on the sale of certain copies of firearms – others, though well-intentioned, may miss the mark.
“Most of the problems we have with firearms are people who use them for criminal purposes, and most cases are not legal and law-abiding owners or owners of firearms,” he said.
In response to the announcement of Bill C-21, the CACP issued a statement emphasizing this point.
“We believe that freezing a gun is one way to reduce access to these types of firearms, while allowing existing law-abiding gun owners to practice their sport,” the statement said.
“However, we continue to argue that restricting the legal possession of pistols will not solve the real problem in a meaningful way: the illegal pistols obtained from the United States have led to the alarming current trend in gun violence, which is largely gang-related. , street gangs, etc. complex organized crime groups ”.
Even if governments want to make tracing of weapons used in crime mandatory, Bray says it will require more resources. The Canadian National Firearms Tracking Center, he says, tracks approximately 6 to 10 percent of all weapons seized after being used in crimes in Canada.
“I think we need to be aware that if we want to do that, we will need a national commitment to that and something that we all agree on and focus on,” he said.
WHAT DO WEAPON RIGHTS GROUPS SAY?
“That sucks,” Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Sports Shooting Association with 37,000 members, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview Thursday.
He called the bill a “knee-jerk response” to problems in the United States, calling the proposed legislation “a whirlwind and a matter of debate.”
“Laws affect the law, it’s that simple,” he said.
Tracy Wilson, vice president of public relations and club work for the Canadian Firearms Coalition for Firearms Rights and a registered lobbyist, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview Friday that while the bill contains measures that could be valuable, it thus contains provisions that her arguments would be ineffective.
The coalition has approximately 40,000 paid members and an approximately equal number of non-member financial backers, she said.
When it comes to the “freezing” of guns in particular, gun rights advocates say the measure only affects licensed firearms owners, not criminals.
Apart from some concerns about the misuse of the system, they also say they are not against the red and yellow flag laws, but that the process already exists.
They say a person can call the police or the Canadian Firearms Program to report someone who appears to be at risk to themselves or others and to seize that person’s firearms.
Bray also told CTVNews.ca that police officers now have the opportunity to apply for someone’s license to be revoked and to confiscate their firearms if that person is involved in an unstable situation such as a domestic attack or may pose a risk to themselves.
But legislation, he says, will make that response more proactive, as opposed to waiting for something bad to happen before making a decision.
For sport shooting, under Bill C-21, individuals can sell or transfer their registered pistols to “authorized athletes and high-performance sport shooting coaches.”
But part of the concern for sport shooters, gun advocates say, is that arms dealers are unlikely to stockpile or stockpile to satisfy dozens or even hundreds of people.
“Right now we have new athletes who may not be in the Canadian team yet, but that’s all. “Their future is over,” Wilson said.
Both organizations say they plan to testify before committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which consider the bill as it passes parliament.
The Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights is also fighting a ban on assault weapons in federal court.
Weapons seized during several gang-related …
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