LILLEY: Trudeau lies and subverts democracy to push his anti-gun agenda
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-trudeau-lies-and-subverts-democracy-to-push-his-anti-gun-agenda
LILLEY: Trudeau lies and subverts democracy to push his anti-gun agenda
Brian Lilley
Justin Trudeau is about to sell the confiscation of private property and the outlay of close to $1 billion to do it as a matter of public safety.
That’s nothing but an outright lie.
“We have long been committed to strengthening gun control in this country,” Trudeau said on Thursday.
“Including, banning military style assault weapons. There is no need in Canada for guns designed to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time.”
That statement is supposed to make you feel good, it is supposed to make you feel safe, that our political leaders are doing something to stop gun violence like the gang shootings in cities across the country or the massacre that just occurred in Nova Scotia.
Neither the Prime Minister’s words nor the actions he is about to take will help with any of that.
The massacre in Nova Scotia was carried out by a man who never had a gun licence but had a stash of illegal weapons — one traced to Canada, the others from the United States.
The gun violence we see in our streets is similarly carried out mostly by gang members who don’t follow the law, smuggle guns from the U.S. and don’t bother with things like licences.
So, what will the Trudeau government do? They are about to pass a government order, not even legislation but a simple order, banning a whole series of rifles that are currently legal in Canada.
“There is a large consensus by Canadians who want to see less violence and fewer deaths from gun violence in this country,” Trudeau said.
Nice words but the reality is these actions won’t do a thing to stop gun violence in Canada.
Taking rifles used for target shooting by licensed gun owners won’t stop the violence committed by gangs who used smuggled handguns to protect their drug trade.
That’s what these orders will be, a seizing of rifles, many without any history of use in crime in this country. There won’t be any move on taking guns away from criminals or stopping the smuggling at the border.
In fact, in the last election the Liberals pledged to spend $600 million to pay for the rifles they are going to confiscate, which is far more than the amount of money they are giving to the Canada Border Services Agency to deal with gun smuggling. The government’s multi-year guns and gang strategy allocated $86 million over five years to deal with the number one source of crime guns, the border.
The number of rifles that will fall under this ban would be difficult to estimate, but one industry source estimates there are more than 83,000 AR-15 type rifles in Canada. This is a rifle that has been legal in Canada for more than 40 years and, despite its notoriety in the U.S., has no history as a crime gun in Canada.
This is not about safety, it is the Trudeau Liberals using hundreds of millions of tax dollars to enact their agenda and they are doing it without Parliamentary oversight. There will be no bill to debate, no votes to be had.
According to the story planted with friendly media, the ban will happen through a cabinet order — in other words government fiat, no accountability.
Even if you are no fan of guns, every Canadian should be outraged that our democracy is being subverted and that their government is lying to them about what their actions will accomplish.
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