Conservative MP launches petition against Trudeau’s gun ‘confiscation regime’

The petition, launched by a concerned citizen from Calgary, was tweeted this morning by Calgary-Nosehill MP Michelle Rempel Garner, the submitter's Member of Parliament.

The petition outlines several points of contention with the sweeping Trudeau law, such as:

• “Assault rifles”, or fully automatic firearms, have been banned in Canada since 1977;
• Criminals who have illegally obtained firearms will not be impacted by this confiscation regime; and
• The federal government is abandoning evidenced-based decision making as it relates to preventing firearm violence.

In all, 12 points are outlined, all attacking the credibility of Trudeau's gun ban.

"We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to immediately scrap his government’s May 1, 2020, Order in Council decision related to confiscating legally owned firearms and instead pass legislation that will target criminals, stop the smuggling of firearms into Canada, go after those who illegally acquire firearms, and apologize to legal firearms owners in Canada," the petition reads.

At time of writing, the petition has nearly 8,000 signatures.

Opposition grill Trudeau over gun ban

Among those calling out the gun ban for its perceived flaws are Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said that the money required to buy back thousands of now-illegal firearms should be spent on targeting smugglers and "gang bangers" instead of law-abiding gun owners.

"The federal government has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to buy back guns from legally licensed gun owners, responsible legal licensed gun owners,” Ford said during a press conference on Saturday. “I can’t help but think the money could be put to much better use hunting down criminals and stopping illegal guns at our borders."

"Rather than giving these nasty criminals, these gang bangers a slap on the wrist, and they laugh at our police, let’s start giving them some tough sentences. Don’t give them a slap on the wrist and then try to point the finger at legal law-abiding gun owners and spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, for what?" Ford said.

Ford also pointed out that Trudeau government plan would not have a direct impact against Toronto's rising gun crime problem.

"Do you think gun violence is going to go down in Toronto—I don’t believe it’s going to go down in Toronto based on taking guns from legal gun owners. What I do think will drop the crime is start throwing these guys in jails, protecting our communities, protecting our kids from these gang bangers, that’s what going to stop it," Ford concluded.