Trudeau will ban ‘some’ hunting guns that are ‘too dangerous in other contexts’

During a wide-ranging end-of-year conversation with Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV National News, Omar Sachedina, Trudeau sought to clarify some of the aspects of his government's controversial amendment to Bill C-21.

The Prime Minister admitted that while the bill does not intend to infringe upon Canadians' right to hunt, his government will be "going at some of the guns used to do it."

"Our focus now is on saying okay, there are some guns, yes, that we're going to have to take away from people who were using them to hunt," he told Sachedina. "But, we're going to also make sure that you're able to buy other guns from a long list of guns that are accepted that are fine for hunting, whether it's rifles or shotguns."

"We're not going at the right to hunt in this country," Trudeau added. "We are going at some of the guns used to do it that are too dangerous in other contexts."

The surprise amendment that was sprung on Canadians last month has sparked uproar among hunting groups, opposition MPs, Indigenous leaders, and even an NHL legend, who have all voiced their objections to the proposed changes.

"Hunters, farmers, and other law-abiding firearms owners are not criminals," Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said about the amendment.

Trudeau had previously accused the Conservative party of "trying to spread disinformation and scare everyone as much as possible," despite also recognizing that it's "a complex issue," about which there remains a tremendous amount of confusion.

"There are some weapons that are used for hunting that unfortunately fall on the wrong side of the line," he acknowledged to Sachedina. "Not many, but there are some that are slightly overpowered or have too large a magazine capacity or technical reasons like that."

While Trudeau has made it clear that the Liberals will be going after some guns used for hunting, he also conceded that more consultation is needed in order to fine-tune the bill.

"We need to consult more and work with Indigenous communities on it to make sure they understand we're not going after any of their traditional rights to hunt," Trudeau said. "Because obviously hunting is a huge part of life for many, many Canadians … and we fully respect that and we're going to protect that.