Well folks, Justin Trudeau and his minions, flush from their success in legalizing another intoxicating substance, are embarking on another piece of Liberal stupidity – that being the banning of legally owned handguns and “assault rifles” (incidentally, true assault rifles are already banned in Canada).

They tried something like this before with the long gun registry. Then, about 35 per cent of Canadians did not comply with that billion dollar fiasco. If only one per cent of legal owners resisted government seizure of their handguns and police attempted to take them forcibly (something government is considering), some 58 otherwise honest Canadian citizens could potentially be killed to enforce a measure that even police acknowledge will have no impact whatsoever on the availability of illegal weapons in the hands of criminals. Do we really want the Liberals killing Canadians?

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In 2016 there were approximately 130 deaths attributable to the criminal use of handguns and most were among the group termed “known to police” (meaning gang bangers and other criminals). Almost all of these deaths involved illegally obtained weapons.

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So our government’s intellectually challenged approach to curbing this so-called gun violence is to consider banning legal handgun ownership among the 579,000-plus Canadian sports men and women who have undergone extensive training, background checks and carefully monitored licensing, who adhere to government requirements to keep their firearms secure in double-locked storage and who may only transport their handguns between home and approved ranges. These owners pose no threat to our society.

Statistically, Tru-deau’s legalization of pot could result in almost six times as many deaths from high drivers as those attributaable to the criminal use of handguns. Perhaps banning idiots from holding high politcal offices would be more effective.

Bill Cuthill

Salmon Arm Observer