The federal government has introduced a bill that includes a national arms freeze. For some Alberts, the move is a step in the right direction, while others say it will not deal properly with gun violence.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino unveiled Bill C-21 to the House of Commons on Monday. Along with this came the freezing of the purchase, sale, import and transfer of pistols in the country.
Measures aimed at banning weapons or restricting their use by citizens are a step in the right direction, says Jose Neto.
Neto almost died – and was blinded forever – after being hit by a crazy bullet in 2008 when a man a few meters away shot at a drug dealer during a brawl in Chinatown, Calgary.
“I hope they will limit more here in the near future. “Because I’m a victim of that and I don’t want my children to go through any of this,” Neto said.
“I know how much this can affect someone’s life. Once you go through that, you pay more attention to what’s going on there,” he said.
Neto says he is glad that action is being taken.
“We have to worry about what is happening right now and what we can do right now. And I think that’s a great way to get started. There is no better time than now.
Calgary Police Supt. Cliff O’Brien recently told the CBC about the recent increase in gun violence in the city with 60 shootings this year – almost twice the average for five years.
Federal law is reviving some of the federal measures that were not passed before last year’s general election and implementing new proposals.
A provincial firearms officer says the C-21 is missing a sign
Alberta’s chief firearms chief, Terry Bryant, says the new legislation targets law-abiding gun owners and that for many people, guns are “a staple of their lives.”
“People dismiss it lightly and say, ‘Oh, it’s just a hobby.’ This is not just a hobby. “It’s a community that has a whole way of life,” she said.
Instead of the freeze proposed this week, Bryant said the government should consider funding more firearms officers across the country and border guards to tackle illegal smuggling and trafficking in firearms.
She believes it would be more useful to pay more attention to tracking down people who have orders to ban firearms against them.
“Often these people already have a number of orders banning firearms against them, and yet they can still go out, track down and get firearms,” Bryant said.
“We need to follow these people and monitor them better, because they are really high-risk offenders. The problem with this package of measures is that it is aimed at people who are at the lowest risk of being offended.”
The bill includes the revocation of firearms licenses for people involved in domestic violence or criminal harassment, and a provision requiring people who are determined to pose a threat to themselves or others to hand over their firearms to law enforcement.
Bryant also said he believes the freeze is an interference with Albertans’ property rights and could come at a huge financial cost – especially for those who have invested a lot of money in their guns.
In 2019, during her testimony before the Senate National Security and Defense Committee while she was considering changes to firearms regulations, Bryant said her own collection of weapons cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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