From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   The new 'red flag' legislation will allow someone to report a person who has   
   demonstrated or voiced hatred against particular groups to have their guns   
   removed. Now, *that's* pre-emptive legislation.   
      
   Up until now all we've ever seen from the right wing governments (we all know   
   which one those are) are calls for increased penalties for those who have   
   already committed a gun crime. IOW punish - rather than prevent.   
      
   My concern is that this is not an across-Canada piece of legislation. Left to   
   individual cities and municipalities, there will be a hodge podge of laws   
   where provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan and even Ontario will try to   
   protect the pro-gun lobby,    
   while individual cities, like Vancouver and Montreal and Toronto have strict   
   laws. Guess where the thugs and haters are going to do their buying?   
      
   Still, if individual municipalities and cities start setting up registries and   
   rules for those buying or owning guns in their jurisdiction, in time those   
   registries could become the basis for a national registry. Again. Only with   
   more teeth.   
   _____________________________   
   Global News Posted February 16, 2021   
      
   Trudeau unveils details of ‘assault-style’ gun buyback program, municipal   
   gun ban   
      
   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is launching the   
   long-promised buyback program for what he has described as “assault” or   
   “assault-style” firearms.   
      
   The buyback program is part of a suite of new gun control measures promised by   
   the federal Liberals in the 2019 election campaign, and follows the   
   announcement of an executive order last May that changed the classification   
   listings to prohibit roughly 1,   
   500 “assault-style” weapons.   
      
   While terms like “assault-style” and “assault rifle” are not legal   
   classifications in Canada, they are frequently used colloquially by gun   
   control advocates and the government to describe the type of high-capacity,   
   quick-fire guns targeted by the    
   ban.   
      
   Automatic firearms are already prohibited in Canada, as are high-capacity   
   magazines.   
      
   Trudeau had said last May that legislation to implement a buyback program   
   would not be introduced until the immediate crisis of the coronavirus pandemic   
   was under control.   
      
   He had also stressed it would take time to come up with a proposal that could   
   win support from at least one other party in a minority Parliament.   
      
   “We’ve charted a plan of action,” he said, noting the buyback program   
   will be finalized in the coming months and will prevent those weapons from   
   being bequeathed or sold.   
      
   “You can’t fight gun violence or any violence on just one front.”   
      
   Conservative public safety critic Shannon Stubbs called the announcement   
   “disappointing” in a joint statement issued with Richard Martel, the   
   party’s Quebec lieutenant.   
      
   “Instead of targeting law-abiding Canadians and firearm retailers, the   
   government should be investing in police anti-gang and gun units and the CBSA   
   to provide law enforcement with the resources they need to stop illegal   
   smuggling operations and get    
   dangerous criminals and gangs off the streets,” they said.   
      
   “Conservatives have, and will always, support common-sense firearms policies   
   that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. We are calling on the   
   Trudeau Liberals to ensure that Canada’s firearms legislation is based on   
   evidence, not on    
   ideology, and respects the rights of Canadians.”   
      
   Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989 and   
   a gun control advocate with the group PolySeSouvient, said the government’s   
   efforts fall short.   
      
   She has been an outspoken advocate for the need for mandatory buyback program,   
   and said the lack of one now leaves her feeling “betrayed.”   
      
   “I think that all the families that were involved with those massacre feel   
   betrayed like I am,” she said in an interview on Tuesday with Global News.   
      
   “If a new government comes in that has not the same opinion on these kinds   
   of weapons, they can switch the law,” she added. “The only way we could   
   have really changed the picture in Canada would be to have a mandatory   
   buyback, to have something    
   permanent and to have a permanent impact.“   
      
   The legislation will also allow municipalities to ban handguns through bylaws   
   restricting their possession, storage and transportation. Trudeau said the   
   measures will be backed up with serious penalties to enforce these bylaws,   
   including jail time for    
   people who violate municipal rules.   
      
   Many gun control advocates have pressed for a national handgun ban, warning   
   that leaving it up to municipalities would create an ineffective patchwork of   
   regulations.   
      
   Toronto Mayor John Tory said city staff are reviewing the bill and welcome   
   federal efforts to tackle gun violence.   
      
   “The federal government has said the changes announced today would allow   
   municipalities to ban handguns and include federal penalties for those who   
   violate local bylaws,” Tory said in a statement.   
      
   “The City looks forward to receiving details from the Government of Canada   
   on how such a ban would work and what its impact would be on gun violence.”   
      
   The bill will also increase criminal penalties for gun smuggling and   
   trafficking, and enhance the capacity of police and border officers to keep   
   illegal firearms out of the country.   
      
   It also creates new offences for altering the cartridge magazine of a firearm   
   and introduces tighter restrictions on importing ammunition.   
      
   Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the legislation, tabled Tuesday morning   
   in the House of Commons, will not allow the owners of the prohibited firearms   
   to bequeath them to others, or to continue to use them under “   
   randfathering” policies.   
      
   He said those who choose not to sell their weapons back to the government will   
   be held responsible if the weapons “end up in the hands of criminals.”   
      
   “Gun ownership in this country is a privilege, not a right,” Blair said.   
      
   “We do not arm ourselves in this country to protect ourselves from our   
   fellow citizens. We rely on the rule of law, not the end of a gun, for our   
   safety.”   
      
   The legislation will also create what are often referred to as “red flag”   
   laws.   
      
   Those will allow people such as concerned friends or relatives of a gun owner   
   to ask the courts for an immediate removal of the firearm, or to have the   
   person’s license suspended and/or reviewed.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)