Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino does not rule out the possibility of a national arms ban in Canada, saying the federal government leaves “all options on the table.”
In an interview with CTV’s Question Period, Mendicino said the new Ottawa arms control bill was a “step in the right direction” to alleviate gun violence across the country, but would not address the problem together.
“Bill C-21, although significant progress and the most ambitious in a generation, will not in itself eradicate gun violence. “We need to invest in our police, we need to make sure we protect our borders, we need to put in place a smart weapons policy, and we also need to make sure that we are tackling firearms crime at the root of it,” he said.
“It’s not a choice. It’s about doing everything at the same time. “
On Monday, Ottawa announced proposed legislation that partially imposes a national freeze on imports, buying, selling or otherwise transferring guns.
It does not outright ban firearms, which allow current owners to continue to own and use them, but aims to limit the number already in Canada.
Among other measures, it will also allow the revocation of firearms licenses from perpetrators of domestic violence, provide more tools to investigate firearms crimes, strengthen border measures to prevent firearms smuggling and created a new “red flag” law that requires people to consider themselves a danger to themselves or others to hand over their firearms to the police.
Critics of the bill, and in particular the freezing of weapons, say it is unfairly targeted at well-verified, legitimate gun owners instead of criminals who acquire weapons illegally.
Mendicino denied this claim.
“Bill C-21 is not aimed at law-abiding gun owners, it is aimed at gun violence, it is aimed at organized crime,” he said.
“I have great respect for law-abiding gun owners and I have engaged with them and visited some of the rides of my opposition colleagues to talk to them. But the fact remains that the Statistical Office of Canada reports that gun violence is on the rise, specifically gun violence.
The federal government has previously pledged to work country-by-country on arms bans, which proponents of gun control say will only create a patchwork system of different approaches.
In 2020, Ottawa banned 1,500 attack-style weapons and at the same time announced an upcoming buyout program.
Asked when the buyout program would begin, Mendicino said they were determined to begin the process “by the end of this year.”
With files from The Canadian Press.
Add Comment