John Ivison: If the Liberals thought they might make political gains by imposing stricter gun controls on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, in which 14 young women were shot dead, they appear to have misjudged the mood of the country — something the opposition parties have noted.
Alistair MacGregor, the party’s public safety critic, said there is no reason to have military assault weapons in Canadian communities. “But the Liberals introduced a last-minute amendment to their firearms bill without New Democrats’ knowledge. Many Indigenous people, hunters and farmers have raised concerns regarding the potential impact of these changes, and we are taking those concerns very seriously.”
The reason the NDP and even the Bloc are re-assessing their support for C21 is because it is a mess. The list of prohibited weapons includes, perhaps understandably, rocket launchers and the Thompson submachine gun. But it also includes the Ruger No. 1, a wood-stock, single-shot hunting rifle that doesn’t meet any of the criteria in the definition of what constitutes an assault weapon.
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