TheGunBlog.ca — A Canadian government politician working to take away guns from their owners said “the proposal is a ban on private ownership,” with forced storage at a “secure, licensed facility.”

Toronto Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith of the Liberal Party made the comment on Twitter yesterday. He was one of the first MPs to organize a meeting on new bans last year with Minister Bill Blair, who will announce new measures any day that could include prohibitions on guns or home gun storage.

“The proposal is a ban on private ownership, not sports shooting,” Erskine-Smith said yesterday from his personal Twitter account. “One already needs to use a handgun at a licensed facility, and that use would be unchanged.”

The proposal is a ban on private ownership, not sports shooting. One already needs to use a handgun at a licensed facility, and that use would be unchanged.

— Nate Erskine-Smith (@beynate) February 23, 2019

“The idea is that all handguns would be stored at a secure, licensed facility,” Erskine-Smith said in a separate tweet. Both comments were in reply to John Hicks. Replies flooded in to the tweet following this article.

The idea is that all handguns would be stored at a secure, licensed facility.

— Nate Erskine-Smith (@beynate) February 23, 2019

Bans for Votes

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed Blair in August to examine a “full ban” on handguns and what he called “assault weapons” owned by hundreds of thousands of hunters, farmers, recreational shooters and competitors. Blair has said prohibiting home gun storage could work “in some jurisdictions.”

A public-relations firm that advises the government said last year new restrictions on gun owners present an “untapped opportunity” for Trudeau to win re-election this year. A poll late last year showed almost all Liberal voters are hostile to gun owners in cities.

About 90% of Liberals Support Gun Ban in Cities, Ekos Chief Says

“The Minister is hoping to complete his report of all engagement efforts soon, which will be made public in early 2019,” Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, a spokeswoman for Blair, told TheGunBlog.ca on Feb. 22 by e-mail.

More Canadian Than Hockey

All guns are banned already for everyone under threat of prison unless they have a police-authorized licence. Any new restrictions and prohibitions would apply only to licensed owners. Several police leaders oppose new bans.

More than 2 million men and women have gun permits, and millions more family and friends of all ages shoot and hunt safely and responsibly under their supervision. More adults have a gun licence than play golf or hockey.

Refuse to Be Complicit

Every gun store, club or target range should refuse to be a storage facility. Refuse to be complicit. Refuse to collaborate. (If you manage a store, club or range, e-mail info@thegunblog.ca to share your views.)

It will be easy to tell who worked with the government to ban private ownership: the places with the storage facilities.

‘Morally Opposed’

“I don’t understand why people are morally opposed to an additional restriction like this, when they are already restricted to using handguns at these facilities,” Erskine-Smith said in another reply to Hicks.

Any new prohibitions would be in addition to Bill C-71, a planned law against all federally licensed gun owners. Unless defeated, it will ban rifles from thousands of people, make it harder for all licence holders to buy, sell, own and transport firearms, and make it easier for the federal police to prohibit and eventually confiscate any gun.

Tory Seeks Bans

Toronto Mayor John Tory renewed his calls on the federal government to imprison licensed owners of pistols and revolvers who don’t surrender their firearms. Last year he asked them to leave the city.

“I firmly believe that we have to take steps to have in place even stricter controls on guns up to and including a handgun ban,” Tory said in a letter dated Feb. 22.

Politicizing Tragedy

He shared the letter on Twitter after survivors and families of last July’s multiple murder on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue asked the federal government to ban handguns from people who might protect them.

Many people use firearms for protection in life-or-death encounters with violent humans or animals.

Several of the Danforth activists are alive today because two police officers stopped the massacre by returning fire on the attacker using their handguns.

How do you feel about politicians exploiting tragedies and teenagers to criminalize honest men and women?#TheGunBlogPoll

— TheGunBlog (@TheGunBlog) February 22, 2019

Handguns, AR-15, SKS

Erskine-Smith encouraged his Twitter followers to sign a petition to the government from the head of the Coalition for Gun Control to “ban the civilian ownership of handguns and military assault weapons.”

The semi-automatic AR-15 rifle is based on a design for the U.S. military. The most-popular semi-automatic centrefire rifle in Canada, the SKS, was developed during World War II for the Soviet military.

Action Step

• E-mail your MP.
  • Find your MP here.
  • View a sample letter here. (If you use the template, make sure you customize it by changing some words/sentences. Otherwise it will be filtered as a form letter and blocked.)
  • cc: bill.blair@parl.gc.ca, glen.motz@parl.gc.ca
  • bcc (optional): letters@thegunblog.ca