The Conservatives were going to lift the Liberal ban on assault rifles. But now they've changed their minds. John Ibbitson writes:
In a week that shook up the federal election campaign, both Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole focused on guns and crime, leading the Conservative Leader to reverse his position.
Faced with the possibility of losing an election that they hoped would deliver a comfortable majority government, the Liberals have been lashing out at a Conservative commitment to lift a 2020 order-in-council that banned certain kinds of semi-automatic weapons.
In Markham, Ont., on Sunday, Mr. Trudeau declared: “Mr. O’Toole has made a secret deal with the gun lobby to reverse that ban on these assault weapons, military-style assault weapons,” which had been used in a number of mass shootings in Canada.
“Those guns have no place in Canada, but that’s the choice Erin O’Toole is offering, to return to a time when these guns were legal in our country,” Mr. Trudeau said. “That’s not what Canadians want.”
And O'Toole began to think that Mr. Trudeau was right. He decided it was better to keep the ban:
At a media availability at Vancouver’s Canada Place, Mr. O’Toole announced that, if elected, his government would keep the order-in-council in place during the public review of legislation and regulations.
We’re going to maintain the ban on assault weapons, and we’re going to maintain the restrictions that were put in place in 2020,” Mr. O’Toole told reporters.
“Our intention is to take the politics out of this,” he said.
Clearly, O'Toole's move is a stall -- and it's all about politics.
It's important to remember that -- whatever Mr. O'Toole says -- his party doesn't believe in banning assault rifles and it doesn't believe in climate change.
Image: Global News
4 comments:
Funny how Cons are all about supporting the cops, except when it comes to listening to them on gun control. Trudeau is absolutely right when he says, "There is no good reason for anyone in this country to own a military-style assault rifle." Police forces agree with this.
If elected, O'Toole will certainly reverse the Liberal ban and there won't be much "public review." Under the Liberal reclassification, current owners of the 1,500 newly banned weapons have until next April to surrender their guns or face criminal charges. That gives an O'Toole government only six months before his hard-core supporters have to part with their babies.
If O'Toole does end up reversing the assault-weapon ban, it will be yet another unforeseen blowback of calling a snap election.
Cap
It's been my experience, Cap, that those who call for law and order believe it is for someone else -- not them.
The peril in this type of post is keeping up with the shifting spin. First it was the assault rifle ban had to go. Then the assault rifle ban would stay.
Since your post, O'Toole has changed course again. The ban will stay until it can be reviewed (wink, wink - then we'll repeal it).
O'Toole poses as a man of principle, Mound. But, obviously, he has only one principle -- whatever makes him prime minister.
Post a Comment