C-21 is an attack on gun owners in Canada. It is also a distraction by the Liberal government to take attention away from their constant scandals. This is typical use of redirection to take our attention away from other important matters, like the commission looking into his use of the Emergencies Act.

Attacks on peaceful and responsible gun owners is a constant theme with the Liberals, as most gun legislation has come from Liberal governments. The latest attempt is Bill C-21. This bill is not just about gun control, it is a blatant attempt at outright gun confiscation. Making it impossible to buy, sell, import, and use handguns is something I like to call delayed confiscation. It is taking away your rights slowly, over time, before actual confiscations happen.  The addition of the list of rifles that they want to ‘ban’ is ramped up attempt to confiscate our private property.

Do not get sucked into the weeds on this one, this is NOT about which firearm is a hunting rifle or not. If we give in on this, the liberals will win by making a concession on their long list, while most firearms owners will still lose.  This is confiscation, nothing less.

 What makes this possible under the current law, is the Firearms Act of 1995. The first step in legislative confiscation is to make whatever you want to confiscate illegal. The firearms Act did that by making additions to the Criminal Code of Canada, sections 91 and 92 to be precise. These sections state that you cannot possess a firearm without a license. What is a license? It is permission to do something that is illegal. So the current position of the Canadian government is that guns are illegal to possess by default. Think you own your guns?  According to the law, you only have right of possession with specific permission of the current government. The word ‘own’ or ‘ownership’ is nowhere to be found in the current federal gun legislation.

This may get complicated, but stick with me.

 There are 3 categories of guns in the FA, and this again is a tool for confiscation. There is Non-restricted, Restricted, and Prohibited. Keep in mind there is a different type of license to go along with each category. Non-restricted and Restricted have courses that will allow you to get a license for these categories. Prohibited  licenses are only grandfathered, meaning, if you had a firearm in this category when the law came into force, you can keep it, but the second you do not possess that firearm any more, you lose the Prohibited license status. When you die, the gun is confiscated and destroyed. This is another example of delayed confiscation. There are very few people with the Prohibited class. When a firearm is reclassified and moved to the Prohibited class, most people will not have that class of license so they are not legally entitled to possess that firearm anymore. CCC 91 and 92 kick in and the gun is confiscated.

Given that the FA is a purely regulatory piece of legislation. Any regulation can be changed by an Order in Council. An OIC does not have to go through the house for debate or consideration, it is just signed by the Governor General and is law. Who can get a license, what firearms you may be entitled to possess, creation of offenses, There are about 4 pages in section 117 of the FA that can be changed by OIC. The real kicker is the last entry in this section; (w) prescribing anything that by any provision of this Act is to be prescribed by regulation. Translation; anything in the FA can be changed by OIC. This is how the Liberals change the rules on a whim, without oversight, and gives them the ability to bring forward Bill C-21.

Do not debate which guns should not be on the list, C-21 should die, as this bill is purely about confiscation of private property from peaceful and responsible gun owners. PERIOD!

 

Know your rights or you won’t have any

Todd Brown

Executive Director FIRE

Firearms Institute for Rational Education