Canada gun control bill leads to hoarding concerns

The hoarding of handguns in Canada is a concern for gun control advocates as we wait for the federal legislation on a freeze of sales, purchases, and transfers to pass through parliament.

While the prime minister is pushing for quick passage of the bill, it still could take months to get through the House of Commons and the Senate.

“We’re going to continue to collect data and monitor as we always do. But we are hopeful that this legislation is going to pass quickly,” Justin Trudeau said Tuesday on is way into cabinet.

As the legislative process unfolds, Wendy Cukier with the Coalition for Gun Control fears there will be a spike in sales before the possible freeze can take effect. She says handgun sales have already been on a troubling rise.

“By 2006, there were 360,000 when Paul Martin said he was going to ban handguns. Now there are over a million,” she told CityNews.

“The horrible irony is after every time there’s a mass shooting or a tragedy, gun sales spike.”

But Rod Giltaca with the Canadian Coalition of Firearms Rights believes the federal approach is off base, saying it only targets legal and responsible gun owners.

“It doesn’t make Canada any safer. It divides us further,” he said.

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Giltaca agrees with his opponents that licenced owners will likely be trying to buy more guns before the freeze kicks in. However, he argues it won’t pose an additional public safety risk, noting these are legal, responsible gun owners.

“There will be a spike in sales,” he said. “But licenced gun owners do not represent a disproportionate risk to public safety.”

Despite this claim, the Coalition for Gun Control points out guns stolen from legal owners have been used in violent crimes.

Meanwhile, the public safety minister has clarified that despite the national freeze legislation, the option is still on the table for cities and provinces to completely ban handguns in their jurisdictions.

Bill C-21

Bill C-21 was officially unveiled on Monday. In addition to a national freeze on importing, buying, or selling handguns, the bill would also allow for the removal of gun licences from people involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking.

The government plans to fight gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools to investigate firearms crimes and strengthening border measures.

In addition, Bill C-21 would create a new “red flag” law allowing courts to require that people considered a danger to themselves or others surrender their firearms to police.

-With files from The Canadian Press and Michelle Morton