Doug Ford didn't campaign on cutting support for children with autism, did he? He didn't say, "if elected I promise to slash OSAP", did he? No. He said he would find "efficiencies". I have no idea what voters thought that meant, but, here we are.
Andrew Scheer isn't going to say on the public record that he is going to remove or reduce many of our gun control laws. Not in those exact words, anyway. Further on we will parse his policy statement which was on his website while he was running to be leader of the CPC, but which was removed the day after he secured the leadership. But first, let's look at some groups he considers "major stakeholders" in this issue.
First, the National Firearms Association (NFA).
The mission of the NFA is as follows:
It must be noted at this point, to avoid any confusion, that gun ownership in Canada is not a constitutional right, as it is in the US. It is a privilege. This is an important distinction.
The NFA has a legal support program to help gun owners accused of breaking gun-related laws.
The NFA acknowledges its political activism for fighting what its members consider bad gun laws:
And the NFA is recruiting new members, using an enrollment contest with guns as prizes.
The NRA is prevented legally from giving funds to the NFA, but it offers assistance in others ways; logistical and tactical support, advice, etc.
The NRA and the NFA share the view that restricting guns will do nothing to reduce the number of gun homicides or mass shootings.
Next, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR):
They also have a mission statement:
Again, they view firearms ownership as a right, which it is not under Canadian law.
As you may have noted in the vision, the CCFR is quite interested in "human rights", i.e. the right to defend one's person or property. Canada's charter of rights and freedoms and our laws allow for the use of reasonable force. If you read the memorandum of the CCFR on self-defense, you may note the CCFR advocates for a shift to lethal force somewhat before our courts have deemed such an action "reasonable".
Likewise, the CCFR has a policy memorandum on concealed or open carry that is closer to the American rules than what is currently allowed in Canada.
The CCFR vision for the transportation of firearms also is more American than Canadian. They advocate keeping firearms locked in the trunk if you are not in the vehicle. If you don't have a trunk, they urge placing guns somewhere they cannot be seen from outside the vehicle.
As for storage, they want a change in the laws that would allow people to keep a loaded gun outside of the currently required gun safe for personal protection. Current legislation requires keeping firearms locked in a gun safe, and ammunition stored separately.
Not surprisingly, the CCFR has an opinion about magazine restrictions.
The CCFR was also running a contest this summer. Entries were based on giving a $25 donation.
There are other groups and media outlets devoted to making guns more accessible. There's the online site canadianguns.com and the Canadian Access to Firearms media outlet, just to name two.
Now let's parse Andrew Scheer's policy on guns, now that we are a bit familiar with some of the players. He calls this "Common Sense on Firearms" and you can find it here.
The preamble is all back-slapping "I'm one of the boys" stuff. He talks about how he "dropped a buck from 400 metres away". This is a nod and a wink to gun-owners and hunters. He's saying he's one of them. He gets going out into the woods and killing animals for fun. No namby-pamby city boy here. No sirree!
The we get to the meat of the thing. He has an overview followed by 7 points.
The he gets into detail.
Scheer uses of the word "arbitrarily" which suggests the RCMP get all cross from time to time and classify a firearm as restricted just because they can. I seriously doubt that is how it works. I expect the RCMP takes data from front line officers' encounters with guns, looks at the capabilities of different kinds of guns, maintains a record of firearms seizures which gives some indication of what kinds of guns are becoming more common, and draws on the experience of police departments around the world. On the basis of this evidence, they may, from time to time, flag a type of firearm as a threat to public safety.
It is actually insulting to the firearms experts at the RCMP to say they ban guns on the basis of aesthetics.
Actually, the existing legislation does this already. For example:
This is a red herring aimed at low information voters who believe the Canadian government is keeping them from having a cool-looking gun because it's cool-looking. This is similar to Scheer promising the other day to increase health transfers to the provinces by 3% per year. People who didn't know that the Liberal government's commitment was already much higher got excited about this. In reality it is a $1.5 Billion per year cut to health transfers based on the current formula. This is who Scheer and the CPC are.
Scheer says he will replace the current legislation which says any large-round magazine must be altered to limit the number of rounds to 5. He says later on that he will take the advice of the firearm associations in forming the new legislation. Do you imagine for a moment that the CFA or CCFR are going to recommend lowering the number of rounds below 5? No, they will recommend not limiting the rounds at all. Go back and read the CCFR policy memorandum if you are unsure.
The use of the word "submit" is used to suggest a Canadian government who would go along with this is weak. The UN firearms protocol is designed to curb the illegal international arms trade. Can we all agree that the illegal arms trade is a bad thing? It is hard to fathom why the conservatives are so opposed. Scheer seems particularly opposed to the marking of guns by manufacturers and importers so that they can be identified and traced back through their history should they be used in a crime. If conservatives are all about catching criminals, why is this a bad thing? Is the fear that someone who stored guns illegally (i.e. not secured) was robbed and their guns were stolen then used in a crime or sold and used in a crime? Are they concerned that "responsible, law-abiding gun owners" might get in trouble for a) not storing their guns properly or b) not reporting the theft to the police because they didn't want to get into trouble for a)? If they aren't storing their guns properly, they aren't really responsible, law-abiding gun owners, are they?
Several countries and regions have been implementing the UN Firearms protocol. The programs are too new for definitive conclusions on effectiveness, but data is being gathered and outcomes will be assessed when enough data has been gathered.
Scheer has said he will strengthen the Firearms Advisory Council. The current council is comprised thus:
"The Committee consists of 10 members. Membership includes law enforcement officers, public health advocates, representatives from women’s groups, civilian firearms users, gun control advocates and members of the legal community. Members are appointed by the Minister for a maximum of two years."
The current composition reflects an emphasis on public safety, while including civilian firearm users. Scheer would remodel this council to allow the NFA and the CCFR and possibly other firearm owners rights groups more say in the decisions of the council. There are many questions raised by this. Would he maintain the committee size of 10? If so, who would be removed to make room for the gun association representatives? Or would he expand the committee to create new seats for the gun owners associations? Would such a large committee become unwieldy?
Do these gun owners have problem renewing their driver's licences on time? Or car insurance? What about renewing their mortgage? Renewing their fishing or hunting licences? Dog licences? Life is full of things we have to do and some of them we only have to do once a year. Most of us manage. This sounds like Scheer would be excusing non-renewals, so why would people bother renewing? A better solution might be to send out email reminders and make it possible to renew online, just as they do with driver's licences in some provinces. What Andrew Scheer is proposing sounds like a slippery slope to no licencing.
Here he is saying that all new gun laws in the future will have to be in accordance with the wishes of gun owners and gun associations. He is shifting the focus from public safety to the "rights" of gun owners. This is a profound change that he is proposing. In light of what we see south of our border and sometimes in our own cities, public safety should be the number one concern.
I understand that First Nations and Inuit and Metis who live a lifestyle based on subsistence hunting need to be able to access firearms. I understand how farmers may need a firearm to protect their livestock from predators. Firearm use in Canada beyond those scenarios is recreational. Public safety should always come before someone's hobby.
A few additional bits of information...
Andrew Scheer gets an A from the CCFR for his gun policy plans.
A conservative MP declared his intention to make AR-15s easier to purchase.
A lot of gun enthusiasts say that laws won't stop criminals from getting guns. Except, they do, actually. Many guns used in crimes in Canada have been stolen from lawful gun owners. If those gun owners didn't have guns, they would not have been stolen and used in a crime. Or if the law was you have to keep your guns locked at your gun club. Because what do you need them for at home anyway? Particularly, urban dwellers will find it extremely illegal to be shooting things in their back yards. So why have the guns in the house at all? You can only use them at the shooting range. Keep them there.
Many guns used by criminals also come over the border from the US. Our government should be making greater efforts to prevent the illegal transportation of guns into our country. Certainly not adopting the sort of laissez faire approach Scheer seems to be advocating.
In the UK almost no one has guns. Some people out in the country, for hunting. But even the police usually don't even carry guns. Why is this? Because they have not allowed guns to become held in public hands where they can be sold or stolen. We should consider this carefully.
Some people argue that guns don't kill people, people kill people and that we may as well ban cars and knives and baseball bats... Except, cars and knives and baseball bats have primary uses that are not killing. You could probably kill someone with a spoon, if you set your mind to it, but it is not nearly as likely as killing someone with a gun. Guns have one purpose. They were created for one thing, to kill. Some guns have been developed to kill many people very quickly. The shooter in El Paso Texas killed 22 people, as of 5 hours ago, and the death toll may still rise. More than 20 more were injured. A person with a knife can't kill and injure over 40 people in a matter of minutes. The availability of rapid fire weapons is what makes a bad situation into a massive tragedy.
The American second amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms, was written when guns were muskets and loading them was time-consuming. If you were very quick you might be able to get a shot away, followed by another a few minutes later. They often jammed or misfired. No one was going into a night club or shopping mall or stadium or movie theatre and mowing down dozens of people in a minute. We cannot look to the US as a model. We cannot let their gun fetishism affect how we formulate laws to balance the wishes of hunters, farmers, etc, with public safety. We are a different country. Canada is different. We must not allow ourselves to be turned into an annex of the US with American gun laws.
I have laid out as well as I can how Andrew Scheer and the CPC would impact gun laws and, consequently, public safety in Canada. I hope you made it this far. It was a long read. Great job! Please share with people who may need a bit more knowledge on the subject.
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