Trudeau Faces New Blow as Toronto Mayor Scraps Call for Gun Bans

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(Update 23:45: Adds that petition is now No. 1 on record.)

TheGunBlog.ca — Toronto Mayor John Tory, briefly Canada’s most-vocal anti-gun activist, didn’t mention firearm bans in his new safety policy today, the third strike in a week against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plans for mass confiscations.

Although Tory told the media “My own view remains the same on this,” the mayor’s press release after meeting with police and politicians from regional, provincial and federal governments didn’t mention bans against federally licensed firearm users, a pillar of his 2018 re-election campaign.

“It’s notable — and welcome — that the mayor of Canada’s largest city has stopped calling for confiscation,” said Nicolas Johnson, the editor of TheGunBlog.ca. “It’s also notable that Trudeau seems to have lost a key supporter.”

Three Strikes

This is at least the third strike in a week against Trudeau’s plans for mass confiscations against the 2.2 million men and women with a firearm Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL).

The Liberal Party leader is promising one of the biggest crackdowns against honest citizens of any democracy in history.

Regulator, Petition

Last week, the federal firearm regulator said in its latest annual report that there are no public-safety reasons to take away guns from licence holders.

Also last week, a petition to stop Trudeau’s confiscation order surpassed 100,000 signatures. It became the No. 1 e-petition in Canadian history tonight with more than 130,500 signatures. It still has two weeks to go.

More than 30,000 people have yet to validate their signature by clicking the confirmation e-mail.

A growing movement of provincial premiers, police leaders and the public further opposes bans.

Stop Gangs, Help Youth

Instead of Tory calling for national firearm confiscation, today’s statement called for joint action to stop violent individuals and gangs, stop smuggling from the U.S., fix the bail system, assist people with mental illness and help youth from poor neighbourhoods who might turn to violence.

Tory’s Flip-Flop

Tory campaigned against gun bans in 2014, then switched in 2018 to calling for national confiscation of all handguns and all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns from all lawful owners.

All guns are banned already for everyone unless they have a permit.

Ban Discussion Shut Down

A brief discussion of bans today was shut down, iPolitics reported, quoting the mayor.

“I will just say that it was discussed very briefly, because it started to head down a road of those who were talking about existing laws, and the effectiveness of different kinds of things that one could do. And so we didn’t give in to discussing it,” Tory was quoted as telling reporters, according to iPolitics.

Toronto Mayor Tory Full Statement

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