The Manitoba government says they want nothing to do with Liberal efforts to allow cities to control firearms..In a letter dated February 28, Cliff Cullen, Manitoba’s attorney general and justice minister, wrote: “…we will be informing the Federal government that allowing municipalities to regulate or to ban firearms is not appropriate.”.The federal government says they are looking to ban “assault rifles” and “military-style” guns across the country quickly – despite the fact they haven’t defined what constitutes one yet, or have been already banned since the 1970s..Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has said the “military-style” rifle ban will come in the “near term,” and added gun ownership is a privilege, not a right..Blair said a handgun ban would take longer because municipalities would need to be consulted..“Municipal bans would result in a patchwork of ineffective laws that would not treat Canadians equally or fairly and would threaten Canadian property rights, which fall under provincial jurisdiction,” Cullen wrote..Cullen said he backed a recent statement by Winnipeg Police Service Const. Rob Carver who said a handgun ban “…won’t make any difference whatsoever, when we seize handguns, the handguns are always, almost 100 per cent, in the possession of people who have no legal right to possess them. They’re almost always stolen or illegally obtained.”.Cullen noted “it is not law abiding licensed firearms owner that are responsible for the small number of gun related crimes. We will therefore focus our resources on addressing illegally obtained and smuggled firearms and other measures that will be effective in addressing crime in Manitoba..“You can be certain that the Manitoba government will not support a costly, unscientific and ineffective federal Liberal proposal for firearms bans by municipalities.”.It is unclear who Cullen was writing to as the addressee was blanked out..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: Nobby7694
