A nationwide ban on handguns went into effect on Friday, October 21, 2022.
In an effort to curb weapon violence across the country, Marco Mendicino, the federal minister of public safety, has issued a social media announcement restricting Canadians from purchasing, selling, importing, and transferring pistols.
The total number of firearms has increased, and at the same time, handgun violence has skyrocketed, according to Mendicino.
There is a correlation between those two developments, thus it is not a coincidence.
Everyone now has easier access to handguns thanks to the expansion of the firearm market, even criminals.
Provinces gathered earlier this week to discuss the federal government’s proposal to utilize police resources to help seize roughly 1,500 different types of firearms, the majority of which are owned by lawful gun owners as part of a government buy-back scheme.
One of the four provinces that rejected providing the federal government with RCMP and provincial cash was Saskatchewan.
According to Christine Tell, Saskatchewan’s minister of prisons, policing, and public safety, the government fully supports crime-fighting activities including the use of illegal and criminal firearms, but they will not support legislation that negatively affects law-abiding gun owners.
Saskatchewan had the same thoughts about the introduction of the firearm ban.
The federal government’s decision to press forward with yet another policy that punishes law-abiding gun owners has left Saskatchewan feeling tremendously dissatisfied, according to Tell.
“The freeze was implemented this morning at 12:00 a. m., figuratively in the dead of night, without any discussion or contact with the provinces or their firearms programs.
“We have made it quite clear that we completely support efforts that will ostensibly lower crime and violence as well as put an end to the trafficking and sale of illegal weapons. This handgun freeze and other actions the government is pushing though Bill C-21 will do neither of those things and may actually make our province less safe by diverting provincially-funded RCMP resources from preventing and responding to crime.
Tell makes it quite evident that most criminals obtain their firearms illegally, and that they are very unlikely to abide by this order. The province of Saskatchewan is still considering all of its options to deal with Bill C-21 and lessen crime there.
Saskatchewan disagrees with the firearm ban, claiming it won’t lower crime.
About Author
