Federal firearm legislation aimed at a municipal download is no silver bullet, Vernon council says.
Vernon council debated Bill C21, which supports individual municipalities creating their own bylaws around banning handguns.
“Giving municipalities the authority to ban (firearms) fails to target the overwhelming source of crime guns or address smuggling,” Coun. Scott Anderson said in a notice of motion opposing Bill C21. “A municipal ban would create a patchwork of bylaws in neighbouring jurisdictions that would be impossible to enforce and waste already limited resources.
“It’s like trying to have a dry town with liquor stores all around you.”
A majority of council agreed to disagree with Bill C21’s proposed downloading of firearm bans on municipalities.
“Maybe this will never see the light of day if everybody writes a letter like this,” Coun. Brian Quiring said.
Coun. Kari Gares added: “I think this is important for us to be pre-emptive.”
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