Nonsense (6 or 7)

So, the Globe and Mail reports that “Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says his party would ban military-style assault weapons if it forms government again, but he stopped short of an outright ban on handguns … “We know that guns designed for killing the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time have no place in Canadian society,” he said.“

I have explained before that “military-style” is a totally meaningless term. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are just using it to play on people’s real fears. A lot of people in a lot of urban and suburban ridings have never even held a gun, much less used one. I understand that they are dismayed at the level of violence, much of it gun-related, that exists in some neighbourhoods. But banning “military-style” weapons will solve nothing. Those who want to use an assault weapon for criminal purposes ~ usually gang-related ~ will still be able to buy them from the same criminal dealers who now smuggle them in from the USA.

My guess is that many people, including Justin Trudeau, would look at this …

… and conclude that it is a dangerous “military-style” “assault rifle.” In fact, it is not an “assault rifle” at all, it is not semi-automatic for a start. It’s a bolt action rifle, you must use the bolt to extract the spent casing and load a new round before every shot. But the pistol grip makes it easier to aim, well, so long guns like it are used by hunters and sports shooters, including by our Canadian Olympic biathletes.

This, on the other hand, probably doesn’t look very dangerous to most city-dwellers. It looks like the rifle that many hunters might use …

… and Justin Trudeau promises not to interfere with hunters’ and farmers’ lawful use of firearms. But it is an “assault rifle,” because it is semi-automatic ~ the shooter just needs to keep squeezing the trigger, the rifle reloads itself ~ and it can be fitted with an “aftermarket” 30 round magazine. It is, as Prime Minister Trudeau said “designed for killing the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time” amongst other things.

Now a lot of people who live and work in rural and remote areas want a semi-automatic rifle. They feel a need to be able to put, say, five or even more rounds into a large, dangerous animal very quickly. My guess is that the Liberals plan to make that a crime.

The much more sensible plan is to crack down on gangs and to have gun-laws that target criminals, not trappers. But that, a sane, liberal (which means not fear-mongering Liberal) policy will not please the Laurentian Elites in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.