On Monday, The National Police Federation (NFP), the union representing 20,000 RCMP members, slammed the Liberal government’s gun ban by Order in Council in its position statement “Gun Violence and Public Safety in Canada”.[i]
- “NPF calls for funding that enables law enforcement to properly address crime prevention rather than the ongoing monitoring of unrelated restrictions on licensed and regulated firearms owners.
- “NPF calls for legislation that effectively addresses crime reduction, gang diversion, safe communities, secure borders, Canadian enforcement agency integration, and cross-border safety of the public and all police officers.
- “NPF calls for funding to the RCMP Border Integrity Program, to enable dedicated proactive RCMP investigative weapons enforcement activity and the dismantling of gang and organized crime firearms smuggling.”
The NFP’s Call to Action underpins what the CSSA has said from the start – the Liberal government’s May 1st gun ban is bad public policy sold to Canadians on the lie that licensed firearm owners are to blame for illegal guns, gang violence and mass murder.
“The narrative is that we need to restrict gun ownership because that will curtail crime, when really the evidence is that illegal gun trafficking leads to criminals owning guns, which leads to crimes with firearms,” said Brian Sauvé, President, National Police Federation.[ii]
Gun bans are popular and win votes in urban ridings, but they completely fail to address the root causes of drug dealer and gang violence in those same urban ridings.
Unsurprisingly, gang violence in urban areas continues unabated, such as the gang violence that claimed the life of an innocent 12-year-old boy on November 11th. The two career criminals charged with his murder used illegal guns and were already subject to Firearms Prohibition Orders.[iii]
“Currently mandated RCMP activities relating to illegal firearms activity are restricted to administrative and academic support,” the NFP position statement says.
In other words, the RCMP’s action on illegal guns is bureaucratic paper-pushing. They are not focused on physically stopping gun smugglers or taking illegal guns out of the hands of drug dealers and gang criminals.
Pushing paper cannot stop gun smugglers and does “not contribute to proactive enforcement investigation efforts to maintain and enhance public safety.”
“The NPF takes this issue very seriously because, as police officers, we routinely see first-hand how illegal weapons are directly linked to increased gun violence and, sadly, death,” Brian Sauvé said.[iv]
“Our recommendations call for a combination of better legislation, better funding, and evidence-based solutions that we believe are necessary to curtailing the proliferation of illegal guns in Canada.”
Firearm Confiscation Compensation – euphemistically called “gun buybacks” in government propaganda and the news agencies the government subsidizes – waste billions in taxpayer dollars but don’t reduce crime, divert youth from gangs, secure our borders or keep our communities safe.
As we reported earlier, despite two lucrative offers to find a company to manage their Firearm Confiscation Compensation scheme, this Liberal government still cannot buy a scapegoat for the program.[v]
The CSSA is grateful to the National Police Federation and its president Brian Sauvé, for this well-presented position statement.
Sources:
[i] https://npf-fpn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Gun-Violence-and-Public-Safety-in-Canada_PS_November-2020.pdf
[ii] https://nationalpost.com/news/liberal-firearm-ban-unlikely-to-curb-gun-violence-rcmp-union-says-as-it-calls-for-evidence-based-policy
[iii] https://christopherdiarmani.com/16915/guns/firearm-prohibition-orders/bill-blair-the-blood-of-this-12-year-old-boy-is-on-your-hands/
[iv] https://npf-fpn.com/november-23-2020-increased-supports-needed-to-address-gun-violence-and-illegal-firearms-in-canada/
[v] https://cssa-cila.org/why-cant-bill-blair-buy-a-scapegoat/
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