Bob Zimmer: Liberals show little understanding of Canada’s firearms laws

In the House of Commons we are once again seeing just how ignorant Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and the Prime Minister are when it comes to Canada’s firearms laws.

During a recent Question Period, Minister Blair repeatedly made broad references to domestic violence when asked about lawful firearms ownership in Canada. However, according to Statistics Canada, in 2018 the presence of firearms was rare in incidents of police-reported violence between intimate partners at 1%.

Just the day before, the Prime Minister had claimed that when individuals pose a threat to public safety or themselves, police “cannot suspend the licence and prevent that person from acquiring new firearms.” This is, of course, not true. Under our current laws if a firearms owner poses a threat, police can confiscate firearms and suspend licences, as well as prevent further purchases of firearms or possession.

These comments by both the Public Safety Minister and the Prime Minister show that they really don’t know or understand firearms laws in Canada. Yet, they want to make new laws, and in the case of firearms bans have talked about using an Order in Council to do so.