Canada's 'Incoherent' Gun Ban Includes Bolt-Action Rifles, Excludes Some Semi-Automatics
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ban on certain firearms has many in the country’s gun industry scratching their heads and wondering if their government has even a basic grasp of the characteristics of firearms.
The Liberal government has outlawed so-called “assault weapons” and other guns in a sudden power grab to limit the kinds of firearms Canadians can possess.
Canada’s National Post reported on May 6 that the ban, which one activist called “incoherent,” even outlaws some bolt-action rifles that rural citizens use for hunting in order to sustain their families.
“Today we are closing the market for military-grade assault weapons in Canada. We are banning 1,500 models and variants of these firearms by way of regulations. These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only, to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time,” Trudeau announced on May 1.
“There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada … So, effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country,” he added.
The ban is purportedly a response to the murder of 22 people in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, when a man named Gabriel Wortman went on a killing spree with a “handgun and long guns,” according to CBC.
“Police have traced one of Wortman’s weapons back to Canada, but believe the others may have been obtained in the United States,” the outlet reported.
Wortman is said to have killed his 22 victims while posing as a police officer at 16 different crime scenes while also using a handgun and ammunition he took from a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer after killing her.
Wortman, who was killed by police, also set fires while on the spree.
But it will be lawful Canadian gun owners and manufacturers who will pay for Wortman’s crimes.
Gun owners and sellers north of the border are now barred from owning 1,500 separate models of weapons which were perfectly legal before Wortman’s killing spree.
The National Post reported that Canadian lawmakers have bungled their gun grab in ignorant fashion by announcing completely inconsistent regulations on legal firearm ownership.
“The ban, announced late last week, does not include the Chinese-made Norinco Type 97, for example, a semi-automatic version of the standard-issued rifles used by the People’s Liberation Army of China. Nor does it include the Russian-designed SKS rifle, the precursor to the popular AK-47; the Israeli-made Tavor .223, a semi-automatic rifle developed with the aid of the Israeli Defense Force, or the Canadian-made WK180-C, which gun publication CalibreMag said ‘functions much like an AR-15,’ a firearm Justin Trudeau was at pains to highlight,” the newspaper reported.
“Meanwhile, the list bans a number of bolt-action hunting rifles used for large game. Some retailers worry the restrictions could also extend to accessorized shotguns used in bird hunts, due to broad language used in the regulations. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on Tuesday said the ban would not include shotguns, and was preparing an official statement on the matter as the National Post went to press.”
The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association had harsh criticism for Blair and the inconsistent regulations.
“Minister Blair is either too inept to comprehend the scope of his regulations… or he lied to the government and Canadians,” the CSAAA said in a statement.
Alison de Groot, the CSAAA’s managing director, told CBC that Canadian gunmakers plan to challenge the sweeping regulations, which she said ban some Canadian firearms while simultaneously allowing competitors based in foreign countries to sell similar weapons in the country.
“The list was incoherent,” de Groot said.
Apparently Canada’s Liberal government doesn’t understand the nuances between firearms, other than that they go “boom” and are a stepping stone to be navigated around in order to reach peak wokeness.
Of course, all firearms that were legal in the country prior to May 1 would be deemed necessary in a harsh country by any rational person.
But guns with certain characteristics are now illegal, while guns with similar characteristics are perfectly fine.
For example, the Chinese Norinco Type 97-NS, which is similar to popular semi-automatic AR-15-style rifles, will remain legal. The gun shoots NATO 5.56/.223 and features a sleek 18-1/2-inch barrel while weighing just over 8 pounds.
“You don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer,” Trudeau said, but the weapons are popular with hunting.
The Chinese-made 97, which is essentially the kind of weapon the government sought to ban, will remain on the market.
But some bolt-action rifles are now illegal, which makes little sense to people who have been around firearms.
“Indigenous people who use .50 calibre rifles to hunt big game will be allowed to continue using the firearms for a two-year period, after which they will have to surrender them,” the National Post reported.
It appears the Liberal government used the Wortman massacre as a pretext to limit Canadians’ rights, and have proven to be too incompetent to get their tyrannical gun ban right.
Then again, this is not about protecting public safety. This is a gun grab, pure and simple, and Canadian lawmakers don’t even understand the weapons they are banning.
Criminals don’t follow the law; that is what makes them criminals.
Killing 22 innocent people is illegal, as is owning unregistered weapons and ammunition in Canada, but that didn’t stop a madman in Nova Scotia from doing either.
Law-abiding gun owners, per what has become the norm, are now left to deal with the actions of an inept government that is seeking to disarm them, and it can’t even do that correctly.
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