So-called assault weapons are effectively banned in Canada. You can't buy them, you can't sell them, you can't even shoot the ones you own. They can just sit in your house collecting dust.
The government there has claimed they're rolling out a "buyback" anytime now, and with a new prime minister, nothing's changing.
Keep in mind that this has been dragging on for years because no one seems to have figured out how to do it--it shouldn't be that difficult--but new Prime Minister Mark Carney thinks that, despite never having held an elected office before, he can manage it.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney says he will reinvigorate the gun buyback program the federal government has failed to launch for several years as part of his plan to crack down on organized crime and strengthen gun control in the country.
Mr. Carney announced a slew of public-safety measures Thursday in Brampton, Ont., as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledges tough-on-crime laws.
The Liberal Party first proposed a buyback program for assault-style rifles in the 2019 campaign, and the government says the program is expected to launch later this year after being delayed for several years.
Mr. Carney, whose federal campaign has heavily focused on trade and political tensions with the United States, tied public safety issues to the U.S., saying that tariffs are not the only threat coming from south of the border.
“Criminals are taking advantage of irresponsible American gun laws and their weak border enforcement to bring illegal guns into Canada. Large American online platforms have become seas of racism, misogyny, anti-semitism, Islamophobia and hate in all its forms, and they’re being used by criminals to harm our children. My government will act,” he said on Thursday.
And this is why we have those "irresponsible American gun laws" in the first place.
First, no one in his government can figure out how to get an AR-15 or AK-47 from compliant Canadian gun owners while handing them whatever pittance they're willing to pay for private property they've since banned. Unless they can figure that crap out, I'm not remotely worried about how they're going to "act" regarding our gun laws, the border--that they haven't secured either, because fentanyl is coming through from the north like water through a busted dam--or much of anything else.
While I get that tempers are flaring a bit because President Donald Trump keeps talking about Canada becoming the 51st state and kept calling Trudeau "Governor Trudeau" just for kicks, the truth of the matter is that Canada's violent crime problem isn't because of America's gun laws.
It's illegal to transport guns outside of the country without State Department approval, and unless you can show where Marco Rubio signed off, there's nothing remotely legal about what is happening.
What Carney needs to remember is that these are criminals. It means they break the law.
Just because he and his fellow Canadians are willing to keep punishing lawful gun owners for the actions of criminals, such as the response to the Nova Scotia shooting that brought about the legislation banning so-called assault weapons and necessitating a "buyback" in the first place, it doesn't mean that's the right thing to do.
But if he thinks he can also try to mandate what's allowed on social media platforms, he can get bent.
We're not interested in playing censorship games.
If he feels really froggy, though, he and his military can always jump south and see what the American people do with those guns obtained lawfully, thanks to those "irresponsible American gun laws" pretty fast.
It will not work out well for them.
But, it might just turn Canada into the 51st state after all.
I'd rather not have them at all, mind you, but I really don't like censorship or gun control, either, and since Carney is suggesting trying to push that on us, well, I'm more than willing to bust out my best Doc Holliday from Tombstone impression.
