NHL netminder Carey Price is wading into Canadian politics, taking aim at the federal government’s new controversial firearms bill, Bill C-21.

”What Justin Trudeau is trying to do is unjust,” Price said in a social media post Dec. 3. “I support the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights to keep my hunting tools. Thank you for listening to my opinion.”

Price is bringing attention to amendments to Bill C-21 introduced last month that would ban some hunting and sporting rifles, in addition to the models already included in the proposed legislation.

Bill C-21 was originally introduced by the government to implement a mandatory buyback program for assault-style firearms in an effort to address gun violence. The BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) noted the original list of affected firearms included more than 2,000 models, the vast majority of which are used for hunting.

The BCWF maintains more than 90 per cent of gun-related crime in Canada is committed with firearms smuggled from the United States, not by law-abiding gun owners, something Price obviously agrees with.

“I am not a criminal or a threat to society,” Price noted.

Changes proposed in November expand the definition of a prohibited firearm to include semi-automatic rifles and shotguns “designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed.”

According to the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights, who thanks Price for the support, the amendments proposed will affect millions of hunting and sporting firearms.

“Thank you Carey Price #31. We won’t stop working to defend (Canada’s) right to own and enjoy property.”

Rather than add additional gun bans, the BCWF is urging the federal government to “properly fund law enforcement agencies to catch and prosecute people who commit criminal offences with firearms and to bolster the Canadian Border Services Agency to stop the flow of illegal handguns across our borders.”

Price, who was raised at Anahim Lake west of Williams Lake, is an avid hunter and posted a picture of himself dressing in camouflage and holding a hunting rifle.

Cariboo