Bill C-42 is putting the public safety of Canadians at risk.

Shareable_C42-2.jpg

Minister Blaney and the government want to use Bill C-42 to give additional privileges to owners of restricted firearms, like the firearms that Justin Bourque owned and used, while also loosening controls over firearms once again.

Three key points that stood out in my study of Bill C-42 support this conclusion and contradict the minister's claims. They are:

  • first, the changes to how licences are issued;
  • second, the weakening of controls over restricted firearms, including handguns; and
  • third, the increase in cabinet's decision-making power over the classification of firearms.

Did you know that the firearm death rate in the United States — a country with very weak gun controls — was 10.3 per 100,000 population in 2011? That represents 32,163 deaths according to the National Vital Statistic Reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That would be the number of deaths if 20 towers, like those of the World Trade Center, were to collapse every year in the United States. There were 2,977 victims on September 11, 2001.

In Canada, firearm deaths for the same year, 2011, totalled 679, or 1.9 per 100,000 population. That's 1.9 here versus 10.3 in the U.S. Thank you Canadian legislation and jurisprudence.

It is completely false and illusory to pretend that Bill C-42 is meant to protect the lives of Canadians. The three key points that I just outlined demonstrate that Bill C-42 is nothing more than a Conservative pre-election measure meant only to serve the interests of one specific group, while putting the public safety of Canadians at risk.

Read the full speech