TheGunBlog.ca — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will include owners of the popular Ruger Mini-14 rifle when he orders hundreds of thousands of families to surrender their guns or face jail.
Trudeau didn’t name the rifle today during a speech in the House of Commons, while offering one of the strongest hints that it’s among the models he wants to seize and destroy.
The prime minister was commenting on the 30th anniversary of a mass murder at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, where the assailant used a Mini-14.
Trudeau Confiscation
Trudeau has outlined plans for the biggest series of gun confiscations in Canadian history against safe and responsible firearm users.
“This fall I announced that we will strengthen gun laws and ban the type of weapons used at Ecole Polytechnique,” Trudeau told the House of Commons in Ottawa today. (Starts at 09:35)
Surrender or Jail
His planned measures would jail federally licensed firearm owners unless they turn in about 250,000 of their mainly “Non-restricted” hunting and sporting rifles. The only design he has named is the AR-15 target rifle.
He’s also promising new ways to prohibit pistol and revolver ownership by the country’s almost 300,000 lawful, legitimate and licensed handgun owners.
Today is the first session of parliament since the Oct. 21 election, which handed Trudeau and his Liberal Party a second term in office.
More Canadian Than Hockey
Hunting and sport shooting are at the heart of Canadian heritage, culture and tradition.
About 2.2 million men and women have a gun-ownership permit, more than play golf or hockey.
Mini-14, Express
The Mini-14 is used by hunters, farmers, ranchers, plinkers, sport shooters and firearm collectors.
Its more than 6,000 owners make it one of Canada’s more popular semi-automatic, centrefire rifles, based on data fragments of the former “Long-Gun Registry.”
Trudeau didn’t say today if he would order owners of Chevrolet Express vans to surrender their vehicles. A mass murderer used that model as his weapon to attack more than 25 people in Toronto last year. The 10 deceased made the assault Canada’s deadliest mass killing this millennium.
Related