On Friday, Oct. 21, the federal government’s threat (or promise, depending on your point of view) to ban the sale or transfer of handguns came into effect. If you do not already possess a pistol, you cannot acquire one (unless you are a museum, a movie producer, a law enforcement officer or a national defence employee). Some competitive sports shooters may qualify for an exemption.

The Trudeau government has been whittling away at gun ownership for years and this move by his cabinet to prohibit the purchase or transfer of handguns is but a part that agenda. Bill C-21 is on deck with further provisions intended to make the ownership and use of firearms less convenient.

The PM and his cabinet continue to push the idea that banning certain types of firearms (perhaps only a step toward confiscating all privately-owned firearms) will make Canada’s streets safer. Their other actions indicate that preserving innocent human life is not all that important to them. With about 100,000 deaths each year by abortion, a rising toll of deaths by euthanasia (in 2021, over 10,000 Canadians were killed by MAiD), the loss of thousands of lives through suicides and drug overdoses and the untold thousands whose lives were shortened by cancelled medical appointments and postponed treatments due to extreme pandemic measures, it’s not unrealistic to assume that government restrictions on firearms are more to impress the public than to reduce deaths.

Every death of a human being is tragic. Death by homicide is horrific. But what is the cause of homicide? It’s not the gun. A gun is only a tool. In the hands of the wrong person at the wrong time it is a weapon that can cause death, injury and suffering. But so can other implements. The recent killing spree in Saskatchewan was done with a knife. The 3,000 who died in the Twin Towers were killed by boxcutters and airplanes in the hands of terrorists. Hitler’s most lethal weapons against unarmed civilians were gas and massive deception.

In 2021, a total of 778 Canadians were victims of homicide. More than 12 times that number (10,064) were killed by lethal injection, administered by doctors . . . many of whom have taken an oath to “do no harm.” Of the 788 victims of homicide, less than 38% (297 individuals) died of gunshot wounds. Stabbing accounted for over 30% (242 victims), 16% (130) were beaten to death and 4% (34) were strangled.

Of the 297 firearms homicides, 169 of them involved a handgun, such as those now banned for all Canadians. 184 of all homicides were gang-related and—although I couldn’t find the stat for illegally-possessed handguns—it’s reasonable to assume a significant number of the handgun deaths were in the gang-related and illegally-possessed weapons category.

There are estimated to be over 1 million legally-owned handguns in Canada. The Trudeau Liberals and their comrades-in-arms (excuse the irony) are banning the purchase—and ultimately the possession—of handguns for all Canadians because criminals and gangsters use them for evil purposes. Over 2 million Canadians are licensed to possess non-restricted firearms (rifles, shotguns, etc.) The hunting and shooting sports industry employs over 50,000 people and generates $8.5 billion in revenue each year. The government should think carefully before it implements laws and regulations that will impact that industry. And there are other reasons to question the latest move by this “smash-and-grab” government.

Let’s compare the death stats from misuse of a handgun (169 in 2021) to a few other categories of premature deaths in Canada.

• 28,000 Canadians died in 2019 from an error made by a doctor or a nurse (that was prior to COVID…it may be FAR WORSE now).
• 6,000 Canadians died in 2020 from opioid or other drug overdoses. The number has climbed dramatically since then.
• 1,939 Canadians died in car accidents in 2019.

These numbers are for comparison only. They in no way diminish the pain and suffering of those families who have lost a loved one to gun-related violence. But in public policy, lawmakers must use the blunt tool of statistics to develop policies that will do the most good and cause the least damage to most Canadians. We could set all highway speed limits at 10 km/h in order to reduce or eliminate traffic fatalities; businesses would go broke and traffic would snarl badly (even more than they do today). We might eliminate traffic deaths but many more families would starve and suicides would go up. In this and other realms of managing public life, we must find solutions that work for most people most of the time. Crushing the rights and freedoms of Canadians and confiscating the private property of law-abiding, taxpaying citizens is not the best way to deal with the criminal element that uses illegally-obtained firearms to commit violent crime.

We’ve said this often in the past, but it’s worth repeating: the problem is not firearms or knives or shovels or trucks (all of which are used in the commission of crime). The problem is our sinful human nature and the tendency in recent decades to teach schoolchildren that there is no God, no right and wrong, no eternal principles to live by, no eternal reward or punishment for our behaviour here on earth. As a society, we’ve burdened school-aged generations with too much emphasis on high self-esteem and too little on hard work, sacrifice, patriotism and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We’ve glorified physical strength and beauty, worldly riches and success. We’ve tolerated gratuitous violence and lust on television and trash-talking in sports and talk shows. In short, we’ve put a premium on self-serving behaviour and instant gratification with little thought for the long-term consequences of these selfish actions. Then the government wants to fix it by broad-brush indictments and confiscation of private property.

Gun control is a tyrant’s tool. Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot are notable examples of dictators who confiscated weapons before implementing widespread extermination of whole portions of their own citizens. The Christian Heritage Party of Canada supports the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and responsibly use firearms for hunting, shooting sports and personal protection. Join CHP Canada today to protect those rights.