BERNARDO: Illegal guns, breached release conditions, and the public safety gaps Ottawa keeps ignoring

Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.Canada has no shortage of gun laws. What it lacks is real consequences for violent criminals who violate them.That’s the hard lesson from a string of arrests in Winnipeg, Toronto, and Edmonton.None of them point to licenced Canadian firearms owners as the public safety problem.They point, again and again, to accused repeat offenders, illegal possession, loaded guns in public, breach of conditions allegations, and violent criminal behaviour.In Winnipeg, officers stopped a man riding an electric bicycle breaching electronic-monitoring conditions on July 3. The man then pointed a loaded firearm at the police. Officers seized a sawed-off .22 calibre improvised firearm with a live round and charged the man with 22 offences, including 15 firearms-related offences and five probation breaches.The public safety question is obvious: if electronic monitoring and probation conditions can’t stop a person from carrying and pointing a loaded illegal firearm at police, what exactly is the system monitoring?Toronto offers the same lesson from another perspective.On July 6, Levon Byers, 32, was shot and later pronounced dead. Another male was found with gunshot wounds after exiting a vehicle, and officers found a firearm inside that vehicle.A 28-year-old man was charged with firearms offences and second-degree murder.The case belongs at the centre of the firearms policy debate because it involves homicide, an illegal firearm in a vehicle, and Canada’s ongoing epidemic of violent gun crime..A separate Toronto case is just as relevant.A June traffic stop led officers to a loaded firearm and an extended magazine. Three people were charged with offences including possessing a firearm without a licence, possessing a restricted or prohibited firearm, possessing a loaded firearm, occupying a motor vehicle with a firearm, and possessing a weapon dangerous to public peace.The release does not say where the gun came from, but we can say this much: a loaded gun with an extended magazine in a vehicle is not a paperwork problem created by licenced duck hunters, firearms collectors, competitors, or farmers.In Edmonton, Alexander Edward Colin Reid, 38, died from gunshot wounds after a July 4 shooting. Police charged 19-year-old Hayden Halcrow with second-degree murder and numerous firearms-related charges.Halcrow was also wanted for attempted murder from a May 2026 shooting.When someone accused in one shooting is connected to another deadly shooting, the public deserves more than another speech about restricting people who already passed background checks.These cases involve different cities, different accused, different facts, and different stages of the justice system.Some involve charges, others involve police allegations, but together they show the same pattern: Canada’s most urgent crime failures are concentrated around illegal possession of firearms, loaded firearms in public places, breach and warrant enforcement, violent repeat risk behaviour, and the ability of the justice system to separate dangerous people from the public before the next violent incident.That is where public safety policy should be focused.Instead, lawful firearms owners remain the easiest political target for this Liberal government. They have licence numbers, registration histories, club memberships, firearms purchase records, safety course records, references, and background checks..They are easy to regulate because they are already compliant.But that is exactly why targeting them produces such poor public safety returns.The person carrying a loaded improvised gun while breaching conditions is not deterred by another rule imposed on PAL holders.The people travelling with a loaded firearm and extended magazine are not the same population as licenced owners transporting firearms under strict storage and transport regulations.The accused homicide suspect who was wanted in another shooting is not a stand-in for Canada’s lawful firearms community.If politicians want to reduce fear and violence, they should stop pretending these categories are interchangeable.A serious public safety agenda would ask harder questions.Are probation and electronic-monitoring breaches being acted on quickly enough?Are firearm prohibition orders being enforced?Are warrants for violent offences being prioritized with the urgency they deserve?.Are courts receiving the full risk picture before release decisions?Are police and prosecutors resourced to move violent firearms cases quickly?Are repeat violent offenders facing meaningful consequences when they ignore conditions?Those questions are far less convenient than blaming licenced owners, but they are far more relevant to the cases Canadians keep reading about in the news.Public safety is not improved by punishing the people who obey the law while failing to punish those who do not.These cases from the past week make that point plainly.Again.Canada’s problem is not a lack of restrictions on the most scrutinized firearm owners in the country.Canada’s problem is a justice system that too often appears unable or unwilling to stop the people already demonstrating violent, unlawful behaviour.Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

BERNARDO: Illegal guns, breached release conditions, and the public safety gaps Ottawa keeps ignoring

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