Justin Trudeau’s recent ban on thousands of makes and models of commonly owned firearms doesn’t go far enough for gun control advocates in Canada, who are now pushing for a nationwide ban on handguns as well. At the CBC website, pundit Tony Keene claims there’s no reason whatsoever for any Canadian to own a handgun, and argues it’s time to ban most firearms and lock up anyone who dares not comply.

The more guns in society, the more gun deaths. Legal guns have a way of being stolen and becoming illegal. And even a law-abiding gun owner can cross over to the dark side under stress, delusion and paranoia.

People who rave about owning these devices of death are often referred to as “gun enthusiasts.” This makes about as much sense as “poison gas enthusiasts” or “land mine enthusiasts.” Collecting and slavering over devices which are primarily designed to kill people is not normal.

Personally, I think it’s much more abnormal to want to put tens of thousands of your countrymen in prison for maintaining possession of the firearms that they already own, but maybe that’s just me. In Keene’s world, firearms collectors can’t be enthralled by the craftsmanship or the history that goes along with a particular firearm. No, they must be bloodthirsty monsters who deserve the scorn of their fellow Canadians, and who would be better off locked up in a jail cell.

A suggested scenario:

1. A total and absolute ban on handgun sales, and on handgun ownership by private citizens. (With long prison terms for violation.)
2. Restriction of long guns to bolt-action rifles and limited-magazine shotguns.
3. Firm enforcement of minimum sentences for possession of any restricted weapon, and even more stringent penalties for anyone committing a crime with a firearm.
4. Exemptions, under strict controls, where subsistence hunting is a way of life.

Add to this a heightened border vigilance against guns coming from the United States, and not only will gun crime decrease, so will accidental deaths and suicides.

And no, it won’t take away our freedom or democracy. But it will make us safer.

You’re never going to ban your way to safety, despite Keene’s argument. The U.S.-Mexico border is heavily patrolled, yet cartels have little trouble smuggling illegal drugs into this country. Increased vigilance on the U.S.-Canadian border won’t stop drug cartels or gun traffickers entirely, and “long prison terms” for Canadians who maintain possession of their legally purchased firearms isn’t feasible. There are an estimated 3,000,000 gun owners in Canada, and a prison population of about 40,000 inmates. Even violent criminals are being set free on low bonds in Canada, but Keene wants the judicial system to prioritize people whose only crime would be keeping the guns already in their possession? Smells like tyranny with a hint of maple syrup to me.

On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, we dig even deeper into Keene’s pile of bull excrement, as well as discussing why Trudeau’s gun ban wouldn’t work out well if, say, Joe Biden tried to do the same thing. We’ve also got the story of a Texas man charged with murder when he should have been behind bars, an armed citizen in Missouri, and an oil patch worker in Oklahoma in the right place at the right time to help find an elderly man suffering from dementia who’d gone missing.