Canada's Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Sweeping Gun Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month in two cases taking on so-called assault weapon bans in Illinois and Connecticut, but gun owners in Canada are facing their own Supreme Court test this week. 

There are a couple of big differences in the legal fight, however. Unlike the cases here in the United States, the lawsuits in Canada are in response to the sweeping semi-auto ban imposed by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the federal level. And while the crux of the argument in the lawsuits that SCOTUS will address is that these bans on commonly-owned arms violate the Second Amendment, there is no right to keep and bear arms under Canadian law. 

Instead, Canadian gun owners are arguing that Trudeau overstepped his bounds by issuing his decree. 

The ban was introduced in the wake of a deadly mass shooting that caused 23 deaths — including the shooter — in Nova Scotia in April 2020. A month later, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that military-grade assault weapons would be prohibited.

The prime minister’s Cabinet policy is considered an Order in Council — equivalent to a U.S. president’s executive order — and has therefore not been ratified by Parliament. The Criminal Code grants power to the Cabinet to enact restrictions regarding firearms if it deems that the weapons cannot reasonably be used for hunting and sports shooting.

Counsel for the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, Michael A. Loberg, argued that the ban targeted weapons that historically have been used for hunting and sports, and that the Cabinet had overreached its legal authority and violated the mandate Parliament had granted it to restrict firearms.

The case was previously dismissed by the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, which had both deemed that the government has used valid arguments regarding public safety to justify the ban.

The nine justices of the top court also questioned if the weapon owners had sufficiently considered the weight of public safety in the balance that the government tried to strike with firearms enthusiasts’ interests.

“I can see that many of these weapons, despite their potential danger, can be used safely,” Justice Glenn D. Joyal said. “In some instances, at some point in time, suddenly, irrespective of how safely the weapon is being used by a sports person, others are using it in a very different way.”

Cars have been used as weapons in terror attacks, but something tells me that Joyal would balk at using that as justification for banning automobiles from Canada's streets. 

I don't think anyone is denying that firearms can, have, and will be misused by criminals. The question is whether that is enough to justify a ban on those firearms, and whether Trudeau had the authority to impose the ban through an Order in Council instead of through actual legislation. 

I'm not an expert in Canadian governance to offer a qualified opinion about the second question, but the first is easy enough to answer. No, the actions of criminals should not be used to go after lawful gun owners, regardless of whether the government recognizes the inherent right to keep and bear arms. 

The oral arguments over the future of Canada's semi-auto ban will continue today, but based on comments like this, I'm not particularly optimistic about the outcome. 

“There may be cases where perhaps the [Government in Council] has gone too far, but that’s different than saying the whole shebang is defective,” said Justice Mahmud Jamal, claiming that the ban on some models could be contested individually, if necessary.

If the government overstepped its authority, then yes, all of its unlawful actions should be rendered null and void. A majority of justices on Canada's Supreme Court may be all in favor of the outcome of Trudeau's order, but that's not the question before them. If they decide that the prime minister has such sweeping authority that he can deem hundreds of models of firearms off-limits, then what other extraordinary powers does he possess... and how long before a prime minister is emboldened enough to test the expanded limits of his authority? 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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