“We do not endorse the banning of firearms here,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in 2018.[i]
Justice Minister Don Morgan doubled down on Premier Moe’s well-publicized position this week.
“We don’t want this to go ahead in this form,” Morgan said.[ii]
Morgan said he would rather collaborate with the federal government to come up with solutions that focus on stopping violent criminals instead of confiscating property from licenced gun owners.
“[We’re] not taking anything off the table,” Morgan said, when it comes to opposing the Trudeau government’s plans to confiscate hundreds of thousands of rifles from federally-licenced, RCMP-vetted firearm owners.
On November 27, 2019, the Alberta Legislature passed Motion 41 in support of firearm owners and firearm ownership in that province.
“Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly recognize and support the ability of Albertans to lawfully and in a responsible manner own and possess firearms and to engage in permitted activities involving the use of firearms, including but not limited to hunting and sport shooting.”[iii]
The Alberta motion took aim at the federal governments insistence they can intrude on provincial jurisdiction and allow municipalities to ban guns directly.
Municipalities are the “legal offspring” of provincial governments. Any attempt to violate provincial jurisdiction will be opposed by the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments, and possibly by Ontario as well.
Ontario premier Doug Ford has long opposed federal gun bans.
“We don’t believe it’s an effective way to combat guns and gangs,” said Ivana Yelich, Ford’s spokesperson. [v]
It remains to be seen whether the federal government is willing to collaborate with the Saskatchewan and Alberta governments on this issue.
So far, the federal government has shown no interest in backing away from their promised ban on AR-15s and other “military-style assault rifles” – a term undefined in Canadian law.
It is already illegal for anyone to possess a firearm in Canada without a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL).
The current rhetoric over banning “military-style assault rifles” focuses on how a firearm looks, not how it operates.
The AR-15 and any other “black rifle” the government claims to be concerned about are, by law, 5-shot target rifles. Legally, they may only be discharged at a federally-approved shooting range.
Automatic firearms (machine guns) were banned in 1979, a fact the current government conveniently ignores as it seeks to confiscate some 200,000 Restricted and Non-Restricted class firearms from Canada’s most law-abiding citizens.
The CSSA fully supports the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments’ positions. We will work with any government willing to base firearm policy on facts and evidence, not emotion and politically-expedient virtue-signalling.
* To our Saskatchewan team – Well done folks, and thank you! – TB
SOURCES:
- [i] https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/moe-scheer-line-up-against-proposed-handgun-ban
- [ii] https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/sask-government-unhappy-with-new-gun-control-measures
- [iii] http://www.assembly.ab.ca/Documents/isysquery/cd614c0d-1417-475f-994c-2f18653e83d9/1/doc/
- [iv] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U13JtFitPg
- [v] https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/tory-ford-disagree-on-need-for-handgun-ban
Political Rhetoric vs Criminal Code Reality