Cabinet regrets its latest gun control bill, according to Government House Leader Mark Holland (Ajax, ON). Amendments to restrict hunting rifles were abruptly withdrawn Friday in the face of stiff opposition in the House of Commons public safety committee..“It is not our intention to impact those who are hunting and using firearms for hunting and we acknowledge and regret the consultations we undertook were not sufficient and that there were gaps and problems in the amendments,” said Holland. “That’s why we retracted them.”.Cabinet last May 30 introduced Bill C-21 An Act To Amend Certain Acts to ban new sales of licensed handguns. Cabinet on November 24 proposed sweeping amendments to further ban “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun that is capable of discharging centre fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner.”.The amendments were withdrawn after Conservative, New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs mustered enough votes to block their passage in committee. “I get it, deeply, profoundly,” House Leader Holland told reporters..“Nobody is going after hunters,” said Holland. “Nobody wants to see hunting end in this country. Where that position, which is an immovable object, comes up against our concern about keeping our communities safe, is the line we draw between those two worlds and that is not an easy line to draw. But we are committed to not affecting hunting.”.Bill C-21 remains under committee review. “They failed,” said Conservative MP Glen Motz (Medicine Hat-Cardston, AB). “They tried to push some legislation through that didn’t go through debate in the House at all. It didn’t get studied in committee. It was thrown in at the 11th hour during amendments and the clause-by-clause phase of this bill. Canadians will not forget that.”.Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, ON) called it “a humiliating climb down” for cabinet but only a temporary reprieve for licensed rifle and shotgun owners. “If God forbid he ever got a majority Trudeau would ban hunting rifles and he would ban all civilian firearms ownership in Canada,” said Poilievre. “That’s his agenda. He’s made it clear. We won’t let him do it.”.“Today’s humiliating climb down that we have forced Trudeau to make is a temporary pause in his plan to ban hunting rifles,” said Poilievre. “He is doing this because he got caught and because Canadians of all walks of life from across the country – law-abiding, decent, Indigenous Canadians, farmers, rural Canadians who follow the law – stood up.”.The withdrawn amendments to Bill C-21 would “reduce the number of firearms some hunters use,” the Department of Public Safety wrote in a briefing note Comprehensive Prohibition Of Assault Style Firearms. Department researchers acknowledged most licensed gun users in Canada are hunters and sports shooters..“Most participants reported owning a few firearms that were typically hunting rifles,” said a department report Firearms Public Awareness Campaign: Firearms Owners. “They used their guns for game hunting, for shooting small animals such as birds on their farm or to defend themselves from predatory animals such as bears. Some also used their guns for sport shooting.”
Cabinet regrets its latest gun control bill, according to Government House Leader Mark Holland (Ajax, ON). Amendments to restrict hunting rifles were abruptly withdrawn Friday in the face of stiff opposition in the House of Commons public safety committee..“It is not our intention to impact those who are hunting and using firearms for hunting and we acknowledge and regret the consultations we undertook were not sufficient and that there were gaps and problems in the amendments,” said Holland. “That’s why we retracted them.”.Cabinet last May 30 introduced Bill C-21 An Act To Amend Certain Acts to ban new sales of licensed handguns. Cabinet on November 24 proposed sweeping amendments to further ban “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun that is capable of discharging centre fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner.”.The amendments were withdrawn after Conservative, New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs mustered enough votes to block their passage in committee. “I get it, deeply, profoundly,” House Leader Holland told reporters..“Nobody is going after hunters,” said Holland. “Nobody wants to see hunting end in this country. Where that position, which is an immovable object, comes up against our concern about keeping our communities safe, is the line we draw between those two worlds and that is not an easy line to draw. But we are committed to not affecting hunting.”.Bill C-21 remains under committee review. “They failed,” said Conservative MP Glen Motz (Medicine Hat-Cardston, AB). “They tried to push some legislation through that didn’t go through debate in the House at all. It didn’t get studied in committee. It was thrown in at the 11th hour during amendments and the clause-by-clause phase of this bill. Canadians will not forget that.”.Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, ON) called it “a humiliating climb down” for cabinet but only a temporary reprieve for licensed rifle and shotgun owners. “If God forbid he ever got a majority Trudeau would ban hunting rifles and he would ban all civilian firearms ownership in Canada,” said Poilievre. “That’s his agenda. He’s made it clear. We won’t let him do it.”.“Today’s humiliating climb down that we have forced Trudeau to make is a temporary pause in his plan to ban hunting rifles,” said Poilievre. “He is doing this because he got caught and because Canadians of all walks of life from across the country – law-abiding, decent, Indigenous Canadians, farmers, rural Canadians who follow the law – stood up.”.The withdrawn amendments to Bill C-21 would “reduce the number of firearms some hunters use,” the Department of Public Safety wrote in a briefing note Comprehensive Prohibition Of Assault Style Firearms. Department researchers acknowledged most licensed gun users in Canada are hunters and sports shooters..“Most participants reported owning a few firearms that were typically hunting rifles,” said a department report Firearms Public Awareness Campaign: Firearms Owners. “They used their guns for game hunting, for shooting small animals such as birds on their farm or to defend themselves from predatory animals such as bears. Some also used their guns for sport shooting.”
