What We Mean By ‘Gun Rights’ in Canada

TheGunBlog.ca — Many Canadian gun owners are unsure about the meaning of “gun rights” in the context of Canada’s anti-gun laws.

Some gun owners believe owning guns is a legal privilege and not a legal right, and that Canadians don’t have any “gun rights.”

Here are some quick points to clarify this massive topic.

Background and Context

The idea of rights was invented by humans. Like any concept, it has supporters and opponents, pros and cons.
Humans assert rights for themselves or assign them to others as freedoms and entitlements in given contexts.
- Example: The right of adult citizens to elect representatives to parliament. The right to speak freely in the town square. The right to use force against aggressors to protect yourself.
Natural Vs. Legal Rights
- Natural rights exist independently of any legal authority. Example: the right to protect yourself.
- Legal rights depend on a legal authority. Example: the right to vote.
Legal rights change as laws, culture and people change.
- Example: In a major case that was later overturned, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1928 that women aren’t “persons” under the Constitution. (Persons Case)

Canadian law is designed to suppress the rights of gun users and gun owners.
The entire policy framework controling the personal/family use of guns (buying, selling, lending, possessing, transporting, storing, …) falls under the Criminal Code.
The country’s two-dozen federal anti-gun laws and regulations are designed to criminalize gun owners and confiscate our gear.
Canada’s laws treat gun users as sub-citizens and criminals-in-waiting. For example:
- Gun owners are targeted with sudden and even retroactive regulatory changes, in violation of fundamental principles of justice.
- Gun owners are considered guilty until proven innocent in some situations under so-called “reverse onus,” a reversal of fundamental principles of justice.
- Gun owners waive our rights to privacy and due process.

Guns don’t have rights, people do.
The concept of rights applies only to humans, not to chunks of metal and plastic or wood.
The phrase “gun rights” is a convenient shortcut to refer to the rights of the humans who use and own firearms.

Some people assume “gun rights” is about our right to own firearms, or about our right to “bear arms” for protection.
Those are big issues, but “gun rights” can be simpler and smaller.
You can even oppose the right to own guns or to bear arms and still support “gun rights.”

“Gun rights” can simply refer to the rights of people who use and own guns.
“Gun rights” isn’t about asking for more rights or different rights than other good citizens, it’s about asserting and demanding equal rights.
Supporting “gun rights” can be as simple as recognizing that gun users have the same legal rights as any other person.

If you believe that gun owners have or should have the same rights as anyone else, then you support “gun rights.”