Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was loose with the facts when he announced tougher Canadian guns laws Wednesday..Just like he was when he tried to justify the Liberal government’s internationally criticized move to invoke the Emergencies Act in February to crush law-abiding Freedom Convoy protesters..Accurate details matter — even when a government plays on emotions and fears of Canadians to enforce measures that infringe on rights and freedoms of the innocent..Mendicino announced regulations, effective May 18,which require businesses and individuals transferring or selling non-restricted firearms — rifles and shotguns — to confirm the recipient’s identity and check the validity of their gun licence with the registrar..Businesses now are required to keep records of inventory and sales of non-restricted firearms..“The utility of allowing police to approach businesses to get access to information to trace illegal gun sales or possession is essential,” said Mendicino..“It was the way in which police were able to find and locate Marc Lepine.”.There’s so much that’s wrong with that misleading statement..Police were able “find and locate” Lepine in Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique within an hour after he murdered 14 young women, injured 13 others, then killed himself right there on Dec. 6, 1989..The Montreal Massacre sent shock waves throughout Canada. .Emotions are still raw for families and survivors..Having simply walked through those halls on an anniversary of the massacre, the memory evokes an overwhelming sadness and disgust over lives lost when madman Lepine stalked the halls and fired his Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle..Contrary to Mendicino’s claim, details surrounding the horror Lepine unleashed have no connection to the new rules..They apply to sport shooters, hunters, and farmers — and they’re not the ones killing people..It gives Canadians a false sense of security. .Lepine was a diabolical feminist hater. He said so in his murder/suicide manifesto..Mendicino’s comments about Lepine were “extremely disingenuous,” said Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association..“All police had to do to find him was walk over and look at his dead body. He shot himself. It was easy to find him. He was right there,” said Bernardo Thursday..Lepine had a Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC)..The $1 billion Canadian Firearms Registry, requiring the registration of restricted and prohibited firearms that Mendicino suggested helped locate Lepine was established in 1995..“It doesn’t even apply in this case. Marc Lepine was a legal firearms owner. Marc Lepine died six years before the registry was born,” said Bernardo..The new regulations are one step closer to fully implementing Bill C-71 which received royal assent in 2019..Understandably, law-abiding gun owners are suspicious..“The only reason governments register anything is to tax it or take it. They’ve never shown any inclination to tax. So, I would suggest that it would probably be to take it,” said Bernardo..“This is a registry. The worst part is they’re not even supporting their own program. They’ve downloaded the data collection, the data storage, on the backs of the firearms dealers.”.“They’re talking about common hunting rifles and shotguns — deer rifles, for ground squirrels, stuff that’s used every day by 2.2 million Canadians. There are over 15 million registered non-restricted firearms.”.“If somebody is a firearms owner its very rare that they have one firearm. They’re far more likely to have three, or four, or five, depending on what their interests are.”.In their zeal to clamp down on hunters and farmers, gun-control advocates conveniently ignore important facts..“In almost every one of these horrific mass shootings, the person went through the entire gun control system and didn’t get caught.”.“Every one of these systems the has been designed so far by the Liberal party and the Coalition for Gun Control.”.“Lepine was a legal owner. They’ve all been like that with the exception of Gabriel Wortman. He smuggled his guns in illegally from the United States.”.During a 13-hour spree April 18-19, 2020, Wortman killed 22 people and injured three others at multiple locations in Nova Scotia. He was shot and killed by the RCMP..On July 22, 2018, Faisal Hussain — armed with a Smith & Wesson M&P .40-calibre handgun — killed two people and wounded 13 more on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue..He killed himself during a shootout with police..“The Danforth shooter used a stolen registered gun. One of the things they don’t really tell you about was that the magazines that he had were all high-capacity magazines. None were purchased in Canada.”.“Very clearly, this was a terrorist attack.”.“We know this to be true because we put this document out, very thorough, describing all the anomalies they refused to talk about. I got a call a couple of days later from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S. asking if they could publish it.”.The Liberals shy away from discussing such details..“They don’t talk about any of that stuff. It’s always the fault of the sport shooters,” said Bernardo..“The feds don’t really care what non-restrictive firearm you have. They care how many you have. It’s really data mining. If the RCMP is data mining, it’s not for any good reason.”.“Handguns are fully registered. You can’t transfer them anywhere at any time. Let’s face it, in the real crime world in Canada, handguns are the things that are desirable not long guns.”.Meanwhile, the RCMP punched a hole in Mendicino’s claims — uttered 11 times — that the government “was acting on the advice of law enforcement” when it invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with protesting truckers..The RCMP told a parliamentary committee Tuesday it neither requested nor advised cabinet to declare a national emergency..“We’re not in the position to provide influence on the government as to when and where they invoke a certain act,” RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki testified at the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency..That’s not what Mendicino told an April 26 committee hearing..“We invoked the act because it was the advice of non-partisan professional law enforcement,” he testified..No law enforcement body has stepped forward to say they asked the Liberals to invoke extraordinary powers..So, sure we believe Mendicino when he talks about Lepine and the government “taking action to prevent Canadians from gun violence.”.No worries about gangs with guns, folks. Be on the lookout for farmers.
