Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is “listening to feedback” from firearms owners about amendments to proposed gun-control legislation that would place a
federal ban on an additional 300 to 400 firearms in addition to the 1,500 already illegalized in May 2020.
“We’ve just put forward a list and we’re consulting with Canadians on that,” Trudeau said during a press conference in Ingersoll, Ont., on Dec. 5, while referring to the list of guns the Liberal government is proposing to ban through amendments to Bill C-21.
Trudeau said the federal government is hearing “a lot of feedback around concerns” from Canadians that the proposed legislation will ban rifles and shotguns commonly used for hunting.
“That’s what we’re listening to feedback on now, to make sure that we’re not capturing weapons that are primarily hunting weapons,” he said. “But we all know that we need to make sure that guns that are designed to kill the largest number of people, as quickly as possible, have no place in Canada.”
Bill C-21, which is currently under review by the House of Commons public safety committee,
will ban all semi-automatic shotguns and rifles in Canada if it passes into law with its current amendments.
Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho has criticized the legislation,
calling it “an all-out war on hunters.”
“They’re going after Grandpa Joe’s hunting rifle instead of gangsters in Toronto,”
Dancho told Parliament Hill reporters on Nov. 24.
Trudeau today said the federal government is “not going after hunting rifles or shotguns” in the bill’s recent amendments.
“We’re targeting the most dangerous weapons,” Trudeau said.
Hunting Rifles
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre today said that the Liberal government should devote more resources to controlling cross-border gun trafficking than to banning more legally-owned guns across Canada.“Put resources into keeping illegal US guns out, rather than banning rifles used by our hunters,” Poilievre wrote in a
Twitter post on Dec. 5.
The Conservative leader also posted comments over the weekend supporting Montreal Canadiens goaltender
Carey Price, who wrote in an Instagram post Saturday that the recent amendments to Bill C-21 are “unjust.”
“Trudeau’s attempts to ban hunting rifles are an attack on rural and Indigenous people,”
Poilievre wrote on Twitter on Dec. 3.
Public Safety Marco Mendicino
has defended the government’s proposed gun-control legislation and accused Conservatives of “fearmongering” by saying hunting rifles will be made illegal.
“Don’t believe the hype. We are focussing [sic] on assault style firearms, not hunting rifles,” Mendicino wrote on Twitter on Nov. 30, which was reiterated Monday by Trudeau.
“We’re going to continue to keep communities safe in a smart way that respects law-abiding gun owners,” Trudeau said.
Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
