Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff says the Liberal Government should be putting money into border service agencies and law enforcement to tackle gun crime, not spending it on buying back guns from legal owners.
Ruff says, “They’re targeting our law abiding firearms owners. Why won’t they focus on resolving the real issues that are associated with this, which is tied to poverty, crime, drugs, gangs and illegal smuggling?”
Last week, the Liberal Government introduced firearms legislation (Bill C-21) that would build on its May 2020 Order In Council to ban over 1,500 firearms they call “assault style” firearms. It has now proposed its buyback plan be voluntary, highlighted a red or yellow flag ability to report at-risk firearms owners and aims to empower municipalities to ban handguns.
During last Tuesday’s announcement, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the government is, “Investing significantly in law enforcement and our border services.”
Ruff points out Canada has the longest undefended border in the world, with 117 legal land crossings, “If you put one million dollars into each border crossing point…whether that’s to hire additional agents, additional surveillance capabilities to help track it, it could be dogs, whatever they’re using, technology to help scan vehicle crossings, or even just the anti smuggling task force. There’s (over) $100 million,” says Ruff.
He adds, “It’s going to cost them ten, eleven, twenty times that money or more just to buy back firearms from legal firearms owners that aren’t committing those crimes in the first place.”
Ruff says the buyback plan has been a problem for firearms stores since the ban last spring, “They’re basically stuck with that inventory because the manufacturers don’t have interest in taking them back, they’ve already sold them to the respective stores.”
The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA) says Canadians spent $8.5 billion on hunting and sport shooting in 2018.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday, “Please, let’s set aside once and for all, the emotive argument that banning assault weapons, or assault style weapons in some way imperils the rural way of life. That is simply not true.”
Ruff disagrees, saying, “One of their firearms that was prohibited is the firearm of choice for coyote hunters in Canada, so they have taken away firearms from our hunters and our farmers.”
In its platform, the Liberal party says, “Gun crime is on the rise, and too often people are killed or injured because criminals have used military-style assault rifles. These guns are designed to inflict mass casualties and have no place in Canada.”
Ruff points out military capacity firearms (fully automatic) have been banned in Canada since the 1970s, he adds, “Our (military) magazine capacity has been illegal since the early 90s. There’s not a single one of the firearms that they’ve prohibited that the military would purchase or design…they don’t have the same capacity.”
Ruff says,
“This is just hassling our legal firearms owners around the country, yet in the end this bill actually allows them to continue to possess the firearms that they just prohibited last year,” says Ruff, adding, “If they were really concerned or worried about these firearms, they wouldn’t be doing it the way they’re doing it.”
He adds, “They virtue signal to the voting public in our major urban centres that are rightfully concerned about escalating gun violence due to crime and gangs and illegal smuggling of firearms but they’re not actually serious about tackling that issue.”
He asks, “Why aren’t they providing statistics? Why aren’t they providing clear definitions? To me, this is all about inflammatory language.”
Ruff says proposed ‘red flag’ and ‘yellow flag’ legislation to report people at risk of misusing firearms is not new, saying, “That’s something that’s actually been in place for over a decade or longer already,” says Ruff, noting there is a 1-800 number people can call to report their concerns (1-800-731-4000 is the RCMP line for reporting concerns) “The tool is already there to report that and make sure that the general public are being kept safe,” says Ruff.
On enabling municipalities to ban handguns, Ruff says it bypasses the Provinces, which he thinks, could take time and resources deciding if it’s legal, “It’s going to create more court challenges and tie up more money and more resources that should be focused actually on dealing with the criminals that are committing gun violence.”
Ruff notes Markham-Unionville Conservative MP Bob Saroya’s proposed bill that aimed to combat smuggling at the border by making it harder for those arrested on gun smuggling charges to get bail, and by increasing minimum sentences, was voted down by the Liberal party in January. “It would have actually done something to curtail illegal trafficking of firearms,” says Ruff. Liberal member and Secretary to the Minister of Justice Arif Virani was quoted by media after the vote saying, “The government has already taken concrete steps to curb firearms violence including the May 1st, 2020 prohibition on military style assault rifles.”
Bill C-21 has only just been tabled and still has to be debated.