Plante, four other Quebec mayors demand Ottawa ban handguns and assault weapons
MONTREAL (CityNews) ─ Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante and the mayors of four other Quebec cities are calling on federal party leaders to ban handguns and assault weapons Canada-wide.
Plante, Regis Labeaume (Quebec City) Marc Demers (Laval), Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin (Gatineau) and Sylvie Parent (Longueuil) say the current laws are not enough and that federal leaders haven’t made their stances clear.
“Do they want to make sure that all citizens in this country are safe?” Plante said. “I think everybody should ask their question when they go and vote, ‘what do I want for me, and my future, and our kids, and the future generations.’
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“We’re doing what we can, but we cannot change a legislation, I cannot change the criminal code, I cannot do that. It’s their job, it’s their responsibility. We’ll take care of our communities as best as we can, but we’re not going to go through this if the federal doesn’t take their responsibility and prohibit both the assault weapons and guns, and of course securing the boundaries, it’s crucial.”
Gun violence is on the rise in many cities, including Montreal and Laval. According to Statistics Canada, gun violence rose by 15 per cent between 2019 and 2020 − a sixth consecutive annual increase.
“With gun control we can retrace a gun, without any gun control, we don’t know where any gun comes from,” said Demers. “It’s much tougher for us to investigate and to find out who had that gun in his hand. So it’s a matter of law, it’s a matter of safety. And I don’t see any downside to it if the law is well made, and if people can still go hunting. You don’t need any assault weapon to go hunting.”
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Added Labeaume: “Our police officers are doing what they can, but as long as our government does not take a firm stand against smuggling, shootings in our cities will continue to increase and the police will not be able to do anything about it. They will never win this war. Let us not wait for this to become the wild west like our southern neighbours.”
