Montreal is set to join Toronto in pressing the federal government to pass a nationwide ban on handguns and assault rifles.
Alex Norris, a city councillor and the chair of the Montreal public security commission, will present a declaration at city council on Monday calling on Ottawa to impose enhanced background checks on owners and would-be owners of firearms, saying the government’s current proposed legislation, Bill C-71, does not go far enough.
Mourners in Quebec City gather to remember the six people killed and 19 others wounded in the mosque attack in the Quebec capital on Jan. 29, 2017. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
The declaration follows similar action taken last month by Toronto’s city council.
The Montreal debate will come day before the federal cabinet begins a three-day-retreat in Nanaimo, B.C.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated that he may be open to tougher legislation than is currently being proposed.
“We are going to listen very attentively to, obviously, what the city council in Toronto has done, (and) what Montreal might do next,” he said in Val-d’Or, Quebec Wednesday.
“We understand that one of the fundamental responsibilities of any government is to keep its citizens safe.”
Protesters at Vancouver’s Jack Poole Plaza marched in solidarity with U.S. students to rally against gun violence in March. Montreal city council is set to issue a declaration calling on Ottawa to ban handguns and assault rifles. Toronto made a similar call last month.
(CBC News)
Meanwhile, Canada’s police chiefs, wrapping up their annual meeting in Halifax on Wednesday, said they are striking a committee to analyze data related to gun violence.
Palmer’s assessment follows a report by the CBC’s Evan Dyer last week that governments and police are not collecting national statistics on whether guns are smuggled or sourced domestically.
In Montreal, Norris is hoping his declaration passes unanimously at Montreal city council Monday night.
I spoke with him by phone on Thursday.
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THE LIBERALS ARE PLAYING DISHONEST GAMES WITH STATS TO CRACK DOWN ON LEGAL GUN OWNERS – While the Liberal party sees gun control as a possible ‘wedge’ issue, StatsCan simply has no evidence to support their claims. By Gary Mauser and Vincent Harinam – August 17, 2018
Gary Mauser is professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University. Vincent Harinam is an incoming Ph.D. student at Cambridge University.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/the-liberals-are-playing-dishonest-games-with-stats-to-crack-down-on-legal-gun-owners
Canada is just now addressing possession of “assault rifles” owned by civilians‽ Had I known that civilian ownership of select-fire (semi-automatic fire, with fully automatic fire and/or burst-fire being shooter-selectable options) weapons was an option in Canada, I might well have opted to move to Canada and become a Canadian citizen. I had no idea that such freedom is permissable in Canada! That’s much better than in the United States of America, where fully automatic-capable firearms have been effectively banned from ownership by civilians since 1934! Who needs a handgun, when one can have and carry a machinegun in downtown Montreal‽
De Oppresso Liber
RCI NOTE: FULL AUTO/SELECT FIRE GUNS ARE BANNED IN CANADA AS IS ANY FIREARM THAT WAS FULL AUTO BUT CONVERTED TO SEMI.
ALL FIREARMS OWNERS ARE FIRST REQUIRED TO TAKE MANDATORY COURSES TO OBTAIN A PERMIT AND A NATIONAL POLICE (RCMP) IN-DEPTH BACKGROUND CHECK. HANDGUNS WITH BARREL LENGTHS 4-IN AND UNDER ARE BANNED. ALL OTHER HANDGUNS ARE PROHIBITED, A CLASSIFICATION REQUIRING ADDITIONAL COURSES AND CAN ONLY BE USED ON ACCREDITED CLUB SHOOTING RANGES. ALMOST NO CIVILIAN HAS AUTHORISATION TO CARRY A FIREARM IN PUBLIC
The people have a right to be safe. The people living in the wilderness need guns for protection from bears and bandits. So how is taking away peoples guns going to make them safer? That’s what Hitler did before destroying Germany. Once all guns are gone that the Government can strip everyone of their processions.
Welcome to the banana country: Canada.
Do we need to cut Montreal city council to half? looks like they just have a lot of time to waste on the law-abiding gun owner, not the real criminal. BTW when we can kick out Mafia from Montreal construction marketing? We can’t wait for this happen and stop attack law-abiding gun owner, we all know it is useless!!!
Get the criminals off the streets and keep them off the streets.
However, that is not acceptable to the Justice Industry.
Politicians do not want to talk about this.
Why. Well, it is quite obvious.
The Justice Industry is $Multi mill industry.
The votes!!!
Jensen, Vancouver.
More from Mayor Tory of Toronto as quoted in the Toronto Star on Aug. 4, 2007, when he was leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party:
“When … people say have a handgun ban it’s a case of mistaken priorities and a kind of solution that will superficially make people perhaps feel better but won’t really address the issue.”
Trudeau will do anything to court votes from the ignorant and fearful among us. For Trudeau and his ilk appearing to address a problem is as good as actually offering solutions that address the reality of violent urban gangs, approximately 80 in Toronto.
Law based on anomalies does nothing to increase public safety and makes government look impotent to correct problems.
It appears Mr Norris knows better than our very own security experts: the RCMP. It is THEY who clear each license holder, and who continually screen them for public safety concerns. THEY are the experts – not Mr. Norris. If THEY say someone is ok, it’s good enough to become a Police Officer, a CSIS agent, work for the Prime Minister, etc….
I’ll take THEIR word over Mr. Norris any day, just as everyone else in Canada does when it comes to these matters. And if they say everything is fine with Mrs/Mr “X”, and we have no concerns whatsoever, then Mr. Norris should defer to them and not ignore their work by painting firearm owners as dangerous, when THEY say the opposite.
Firearms are already banned. Period. Full stop. It is illegal to have one, use one, or even touch one UNLESS cleared by the RCMP. I suppose Mr. Norris wants to double-ban them. I’m sure the Hell’s Angels will line up behind the gang-bangers to turn them in.
……and what about people who live off island, in the suburbs? Are they more to Mr. Norris’s liking, since they will not be affected by this misplaced ignorance. Does that fact keep Mr. Norris up at night? The fact someone from Laval can live in peace, but if he travels 2 kms into Montreal with his firearm, he’ll suddenly be a savage criminal?
Mr. Norris also stated he expects the Police to “go door to door confiscating them”. Since when is the Government allowed to come into someone’s home who has done no wrong and take their property; property Mr. Norris deems from on high to be not necessary? No one needs to justify why they do anything that makes them happy, as long as they don’t hurt anyone while doing so. Isn’t that the Canadian way? Or are we not upholding that anymore?