Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.On October 1, gunfire ripped through a Laval Starbucks.Charalambos “Bobby the Greek” Theologou, gang leader, drug trafficker, repeat offender, was executed in front of undercover police officers.“A team of at least five cars, including an operations supervisor, was deployed on the ground to monitor Theologou's movements. Around ten police officers were therefore observing the gang leader.”Ten undercover cops inside and outside that Laval Starbucks location watched Theologou’s every move. Not one of them could stop the shooting or catch the murderers..OLDCORN: The public square is for everyone — not just the ‘tolerant’ Left.And yet Ottawa claims another gun ban, another slogan, another firearms confiscation compensation scheme targeting licenced gun owners will keep us safe.Another “targeted hit.”Another reminder that evil men with illegal guns roam free while Ottawa hunts farmers and duck hunters like criminals.Prime Minister Mark Carney and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree continue to lie to Canadians..Every gun used to murder Theologou and wound two of his henchmen that day was already illegal. Not one of them would be affected by this Liberal government’s gun confiscation scheme.They are committed to confiscating rifles from licenced firearms owners while they continue to ignore the gangsters who spill blood in our coffee shops and on our streets.They call their firearms confiscation compensation scheme “public safety.”It’s a delusion wrapped in virtue-signaling from the highest political offices in the land..WENZEL: Teaching our kids the wrong lesson.“Want to know which gun wouldn't be off the street with the Liberals' ‘gun buyback’? The one used in yesterday's shooting in Laval,” Senator Leo Housakos wrote on X.It’s not ‘public safety’ this government wants. It’s control.Sean Fraser mocked Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in an August 29 post on X:“This isn’t the Wild West. It’s Canada. Canadians deserve real solutions…”.Tell that to the people who hit the floor in Starbucks when the bullets flew.Tell that to the people who ran for their lives as bullets riddled three bodies behind them.Tell that to the Starbucks employees who have to go back to work in that coffee shop.They will all agree that “Canadians deserve real solutions” and that we’re not getting them from you, Minister Fraser, or anyone in Mark Carney’s Liberal government..EYRE: Beware the ‘nation-building’ boosters: Why governments shouldn’t pick winners and losers.This is what happens when honest citizens are mocked and justice is perverted by politicians more concerned with winning votes than they are about protecting the lives of Canadians.Criminals don’t care about your laws.They don’t fill out your paperwork.They certainly don’t hand in their guns because you demand it.They laugh and ignore you..They smuggle in more illegal guns, they steal more from honest citizens, and they kill whoever they want, whenever they want, because no one is willing to stop them.So while the blood is cleaned off the walls, furniture, and floor of that Laval Starbucks, politicians in Ottawa congratulate themselves for “keeping Canadians safe” with their firearms confiscation scheme — a scheme that will never, can never, remove a single illegal gun from a single criminal’s hands.Because Ottawa isn’t even trying to confiscate illegal guns from violent criminals. Their entire Firearms Act focuses on licenced, law-abiding Canadians, not criminals.Theologou’s murder was no accident.It was professional, precise, and premeditated..OLDCORN: Truth and Reconciliation Day: A national farce masquerading as mourning.Surveillance video caught two shooters and a driver, all hooded, gloved, and armed with illegal weapons. Police discovered what they think is the stolen getaway car, torched in a Montreal parking lot.Organized crime’s message to us is clear: We rule the streets, not the police or the government.The even greater tragedy is that our political leaders have become blinded to the reality the rest of us must face.They can’t discern real evil anymore..They can only see another “gotcha” moment to make their opponent look bad.Anyone who dares speak the truth is mocked mercilessly by blind political loyalists and media outlets alike.They can’t admit the truth, that their gun confiscation scheme will never stop organized crime hits like this. It can’t because they never focus on the real target, violent criminals.To use the drunk driving analogy, they insist that if we just take enough cars away from sober drivers, we can finally put an end to drunk driving..MAY: Jason Kenney’s independence panic misses the point.You cannot stop violent criminals by confiscating firearms owned by licenced gun owners.It’s insane to believe otherwise, yet our government punishes obedience to every firearms regulation and gun law.Our government excuses lawlessness, rebellion, and murder by reducing prison terms for violent offenders using illegal guns.Our government confiscates legally-owned property from the upright and surrenders cities to the violent and then has the audacity to say their firearms confiscation compensation scheme is “voluntary.”.This organized crime hit in Laval is not an isolated act.It’s a mirror.It reflects the cost of political arrogance, pride, and apathy.Canada doesn’t need another round of gun confiscations from the law-abiding.Canada needs true political courage to go after the people shooting up our streets and our coffee shops with impunity..BAROOTES: Alberta deserves a voice, not a checkbox: Trudeau’s token Senate appointment fails the test.Canada needs men and women of integrity who will stand tall, speak the truth, and refuse to peddle lies, no matter how convenient or politically expedient they may be.That is not the Canada we live in today.But it could be after the next election.The time to prepare for that day is now.Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
