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LETTER - Editorial regarding pistol ban was misleading

Comox Valley Record - 11/16/2022

Will pistol ban affect gang shootings?

This recent editorial (Nov. 2 Record) is misleading (hopefully unintentionally) to an already confused public. It fairly asks the question, "will pistol ban affect gang shootings?"

The answer is absolutely not. Right now, there is a very long lineup of witnesses testifying at the SECU hearings saying precisely that. These witnesses include police chiefs, experts in criminal misuse of guns, Olympic shooters and even a former gang member from Toronto who has dedicated himself to saving youth from the gang life. The testimony clips are on YouTube.

Of course, the Trudeau minority government chooses to ignore all this expert testimony. It's "full speed ahead" on the good ship Ideology. This freeze has nothing to do with public safety nor will it have any effect on actual violence. It is yet another virtue-signalling stunt by Trudeau in an effort to be "seen to be doing something" about a perceived problem.

The Liberals never let a crisis go to waste when pushing their ideology. They exploit the victims of violence to play on the emotions of a public ill-informed on the facts of legal gun ownership. Then they attack one of the last minorities in this country that can be discriminated against.

It's a distraction game. Oh, look some crime has been committed by dirt bags not licensed to own guns and they perpetrated the crime with illegal guns. Best start ratcheting up the abuse of the licensed, highly vetted, legal gun owners again. The facts are there for anyone to see. It isn't legally-owned guns in the possession of legal gun owners that are involved in the crime.

As to the ridiculous statement at the end about "start of an experiment" and "if the new rules work". Seriously? We're not cooking pasta and throwing noodles against the wall to see if it sticks. These stupid, pointless bans affect thousands upon thousands of decent, everyday Canadians. These measures will kill the competitive shooting sports. They will destroy hundreds of small businesses. They render thousands of dollars of legally-obtained private property worthless overnight.

They haven't even figured out their 'buyback' for semi-automatic rifles yet (no, they are not 'assault rifles'. Those were all prohibited in 1978). Which, by the way, will cost billions of dollars and waste valuable police time that should be spent on the real problem - interdicting illegal guns at the border.

Oh, and straw purchases and domestically stolen guns arming criminals? Quite rare. Especially straw purchases. Think about it. Handguns can only be sold to licence holders. Every handgun is registered. This ties the gun to the current owner. Every transfer is tightly controlled. As such, only a fool would straw purchase a handgun for a criminal. It almost never happens. Let's stop wasting time on these lies and apply resources to the actual problems.

David Vernon,

Comox