A petition against the democratic process being used to define which “assault rifles” will be banned in the Liberals upcoming gun control agenda is nearing 84,000 signatures.
Alberta MP Glen Motz organized the e-petition at the urging of one of his constituents, Brad Manysiak.
“The groundswell support is causing the Liberals to stand up and take notice,” he said. “Those who haven’t signed it, need to.”
Misguided policy on gun violence
The process currently being discussed is the list of semi-automatic centrefire rifles that will be banned will be done through a Cabinet Order in Council, not through the House of Commons.
“It’s just another example of their misguided policy on gun violence,” Motz said, saying it would be better to focus on gangs, border security, mental health and addiction. He estimated the confiscation would end up costing $1 billion.
“Think of what that money could do to improve the lives of Canadians,” he said. “What’s being proposed won’t improve the lives of Canadians.”
Third most signatures of any e-petition
Motz, who is the holder of both a PAL and RPAL, said at the time the petition had garnered the third most signatures of any government e-petition. The second highest amount of signatures was for the C-71 petition.
“Those are powerful, powerful statements,” Motz said, saying it should cause some conversations at Cabinet.
Asked about some of the rhetoric on social media saying the petition won’t make a difference, Motz pointed to the most popular e-petition, which was on electoral reform. He surmised the 130,000 signatures that e-petition drew may have been a reason the Liberals changed their stance on changing the way Canadians elect their MPs.
Motz believes firearms should be classified by function, not by how they look. The decisions should be fact based, not driven by emotion, he added.
Function over form
“My grandsons have firearms that look menacing and they’re .22 (rimfire) single shots,” he said.
Matt DeMille of the OFAH also urged firearms owners, and others concerned with this, to sign the petition.
“While I’m not convinced more parliamentary debate will result in anything positive for firearms owners, I do believe the potential to showcase unity is the true value of a political petition,” he said. “A well supported e-petition can take tens of thousands of scattered and emotionally-charged social media opinions and channel them into a powerful act of solidarity, which should be particularly impactful during a time of national political fragmentation.”
It was also recently learned that the government is moving ahead with its campaign promises for a buyback of “assault rifles,” which further allows municipalities to ban handguns.
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