Conservative Backlash in Canada to New Gun Ban

Protesters marched near Parliament Hill in Ottawa on September 12 to express their disapproval of a recent ban on assault weapons that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in May.

The wide-ranging ban encompasses about 1,500 different types of guns, including assault rifles such as the M4 and AR-15. Under the new restrictions, the guns may no longer be imported, sold, or used in Canada. Some of the deadliest shootings in recent years in Canada have involved the use of these weapons.

The group that organized the protest, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), also expressed frustration at Trudeau’s intention to create a buy-back program to enforce the new restrictions. Under such a program, citizens would voluntarily surrender their assault weapons to the Canadian government in exchange for money. 

The CCFR and other gun rights activists criticize this measure as costly and ineffective, alleging that many perpetrators of recent shootings in Canada obtained their weapons illegally. Opposing the funding of a buy-back program to confiscate legally acquired weapons, conservative leaders argued for the use of this money towards efforts stopping the sale of illegal guns.

Others argue that the buy-back program does not go far enough because of its voluntary nature. Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the Ecole Polytechnique shooting in Montreal that killed 14 women, called the program “a big win for the gun lobby” because thousands of assault weapons could remain in circulation if their owners choose to keep them. She instead advocates for a mandatory buy-back program, claiming it would best ensure the most amount of weapons removed from circulation in Canada.

Many people criticizing the protests also point out that Canadian citizens have no constitutional right to bear arms as do American citizens. The Canadian Supreme Court confirmed this in a 1993 ruling on gun rights, stating that the government could restrict the purchase of guns to uphold public safety. 

This difference in rights means that groups like the CCFR cannot rely on tactics that American organizations like the NRA use to advocate for gun rights. The lack of a constitutional right to bear arms has also allowed Canada to pass gun control legislation quickly and decisively after mass shootings without having to worry about legal challenges. 

Other countries without a constitutional right to bear arms have imposed similar measures in recent times as well. New Zealand, for instance, banned almost all semi-automatic weapons less than a month after a shooter used one to kill 50 worshippers inside of a mosque in March 2019.

Even though countries like Canada can react to tragedies more quickly and with fewer obstacles, the United States still plays a role in the problem of gun control. Most mass shootings in Canada involve illegally obtained guns, and the vast majority of these weapons originated in the United States.

Because of these statistics, pro-gun groups like the CCFR have accused Trudeau of going after law-abiding citizens instead of the people actually responsible for most gun crimes in Canada. Although Trudeau has tried to stop cartels and other groups from smuggling guns into Canada before, his new ban on previously legal assault weapons will surely reignite an intense debate in the country.