This post was written and reported by contributor Bryant Telfer through our new Daily Kos freelance program.
After a particularly dangerous summer of gun violence in Canada and two mass shootings sparking public outcry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done something that would perhaps be unthinkable in America: he’s called on government officials to examine the impact of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons.
Shootings in Toronto and Fredericton have been a flashpoint for an already growing urgency about the gun debate. On July 22, two people were killed and eight others wounded after a gunman fired into restaurants and patios packed with evening patrons on one of Toronto’s busiest streets. On Aug. 10, four people, including two police officers, were shot to death in an apartment complex by another resident for yet unknown reasons.
The percentage of crimes involving handguns has grown by 30 percent over the past four years in Canada. In addition, a Canadian Press report this summer stated that more than 40 percent of weapons used in crimes in Canada are of domestic origin, bought by straw purchasers who are legally licensed and then sell the weapons illegally to others.
That report has come under fire recently, as Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials failed to locate records to support the stated rise in domestically-sourced firearms in either their Ottawa or Edmonton archives, and Toronto Police officials released information that stated only 9 percent of weapons seized in 2017 originated in Canada.
While an all-out ban on handguns and assault weapons is broadly supported by the majority of Canadians, it faces entrenched opposition from a number of groups and communities across the country, with the strongest divide along rural-urban lines.
A Nanos survey for CTV found that a handgun ban, exempting only police and security professionals, would be fully supported by 48 percent of Canadians, while another 19 percent would somewhat support it. Twenty-one percent said they opposed such a ban, while another 10 percent say they somewhat oppose it. A proposed ban was supported or somewhat supported most strongly in Quebec (77 percent) and least supported in the Prairies (55 percent).
Earlier this year, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-71, designed to bolster gun control laws by requiring gun sellers to maintain records of all gun sales for 20 years. Any sales of non-restricted firearms (mostly long guns and shotguns) between licensed owners would require a legal transaction number via an online portal which confirms both people involved in the transaction have a valid license. According to the government, C-71 is simply re-instituting and updating regulations that were in place under the “green book” program used in Canada between 1975 and 1995.
Those who oppose the bill claim it is an attempt to implement a new version of the Long Gun Registry, a program launched in 1995 to track all gun owners by license and by weapon owned. The program was deeply unpopular in rural and Western Canada and derided as a $2 billion boondoggle. It was formally dissolved by Harper’s Conservative government in 2012, despite support for the registry by the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs.
Harper's government failed to bring back the green book program or launch any new system for tracking the purchase of non-restricted firearms, although most Canadian gun dealers maintain a similar voluntary process. C-71 was proposed as a solution to the existing lack of official procedures.
While police officials have been reluctant to state whether they think a ban would be effective, public and political sentiment in Toronto and Montreal has been strongly supportive of the measures. Toronto MP Adam Vaughan has called for a handgun ban, although he’s suggested that a ban might not be uniform, but instead tailored to different areas of the country.
"Look, there is no rational reason to own a handgun in an urban setting. Period. You may like them, you may enjoy target shooting, you may have all kinds of emotional reactions to the presence of them in your life, but the reality is they're bloody dangerous,” Vaughan said in an interview with CBC News. “Rural Canada has a different relationship to guns. They're tools. They're not tools in urban Canada. They are weapons. When bullets fly in crowded areas, people get hit."
While he hasn’t articulated how a law might serve urban and rural areas differently, his statement shows the awareness by the Liberal government that a ban would face political challenges in rural electoral districts (known as “ridings” in Canada).
“We have issues in this country. We have issues with illegal firearms getting into the hands of people who shouldn’t have firearms. We should be dealing with that,” said MP Glen Motz for the western riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner in a public statement following a town hall with constituents regarding the issue. “Let’s develop legislation that deals with that and not legislation that deals with those Canadians—the hunters, the fishermen, and the farmers, sport shooters, trappers—who are not the problem in the country. Let’s target those individuals that are.”
Even among supporters of a handgun ban, there’s the acknowledgement that it might not have a major effect. Even if the Canadian Press report numbers are correct, Canada’s relatively open border with the U.S. and the proximity to a number of states with negligible gun control means that the flood of handguns originating from the states is unlikely to stop.
But the U.S. also serves as a constant reminder to Canadians of the potential consequences of weak gun control laws. While hunting rifles and shotguns may enjoy the political support of many Canadian lawmakers, handguns lack the same economic and cultural significance in Canada, and the violence in the largest cities could spell their end commercially in the future.
Bryant Telfer is a freelance writer based in Canada. If you ‘d like to help support more stories like this through our freelance program, contribute here.