Canada Bans Assault Style Weapons

Following a major gun massacre in the nation this April, Canada has moved to officially ban more than 1,500 varieties of firearm from ownership in the general public.

This decision, which was drafted and made ready well before the COVID-19 pandemic, has been extensive in curbing what little gun rights remain in Canada, with supposedly hyperlethal “assault-style” firearms on the new blacklist, ranging from the AR-15 to the AK47 to basically any firearm that is big and scary looking and might have that scary black part on it instead of the safe, nice-looking wood bits.

It’s another major example of overreach in the name of a crisis, which has continually been shown to be relatively ineffective. It’s uncomfortable to admit in our society, but truth be told there’s little to do (if anything) to directly solve the statistical anomaly that is the mass shootings we see seemingly every year, and that’s admittedly a scary thought.

Some answers exist in the form of sentence enhancers being enforced drastically to reduce overall gun related crime, which isn’t even particularly high in Canada to begin with. But it seems there aren’t any legislative pathways for what is in all likelihood a mental health issue in our society.

As we’ve previously addressed, there are plenty of reasons for citizen ownership of these types of firearms, not least of which is the management of pests in rural areas (of which Canada has plenty)  . In fact, the entire list is of uses generally applicable to any North American nation. Of course the problem is that these facts aren’t part of the opinion of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who stated that, “you don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer.”

A lot of the weapons used in criminal activity in Canada aren’t even legally sourced or registered, which can lead many to speculate on the effectiveness of this type of regulation on curbing any kind of crime given the existence of an underground market. However, this argument (which saw extensive use under conservative opposition) did little to sway public opinion or the stances of its parliamentary advocates, least of all Mr. Trudeau.

The long term ramifications of this ban on the regular citizens of Canada are grim as far as civil rights are concerned, with the only respite being a two year grace period to surrender arms. There will definitely be an impact on the everyday lives of those who did in fact use these armaments as tools, but so too will the average person face scrutiny if they have even the slightest interest in these types of guns.