TheGunBlog.ca — Gun policy in Canada and other countries fails in part because it takes an approach of “one size fits all.” Using a single legal-institutional framework backfires because people use guns for different motivations and goals, and in different ways. Here are five broad categories of gun users who would benefit from different policies.
Opinion
There are 42 posts filed in Opinion (this is page 1 of 3).
My Call to Goodale on Bill C-71: I Was Anxious, But It Was Easy
TheGunBlog.ca — I was anxious the first time I phoned a member of cabinet. It was two weeks ago, when I called Canadian Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale to oppose Bill C-71. Turns out it was a piece of cake. Here’s how it went.
Trudeau Tweet on PALs Isn’t Totally False, Just Totally Wrong
TheGunBlog.ca — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drew a flood of criticism after saying on Twitter that you can legally buy a gun without showing your firearm licence. But Trudeau is correct. Sort of.
Anti-Gun Law Outlook: Today’s Gun & Gang Summit, and Beyond
Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale opens Summit on Gun and Gang Violence. Source: Ministry
TheGunBlog.ca — The Canadian government is getting ready to propose the first anti-gun laws since the punitive Firearms Act of 1995. Here’s what happened at today’s gun and gang conference in Ottawa, and an outlook for what’s next.
Shoppers Drug Mart Pulls ‘Recoil’ After Toronto Ex-Mayor Tweets
Screenshot of Twitter message.
TheGunBlog.ca — It’s disappointing that Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., Canada’s largest drugstore chain, will stop selling Recoil magazine after a tweet by a former mayor of Toronto. The idea of boycotting anti-gun companies is appealing, but it’s unrealistic for most of us, and going to a competitor might be worse.
SHOT Show 2018 Round Up: Aimpoint to Walther Via Surefire
TheGunBlog.ca — Here are some people, products, companies and humour that caught my attention this week at SHOT Show, the world’s biggest trade expo for the firearm industry.
Christmas Gift Ideas for Canadian Gunnies, Bribery Edition
TheGunBlog.ca — Looking for a Christmas gift for someone who doesn’t have a gun licence? Here are a few ideas for Canadian shooters and hunters. Some of them have strings attached.
Real Shooters Don’t Hide Their Gun Porn
Calibre magazine and Handguns magazine. Source: Pierre Plourde on Twitter
TheGunBlog.ca — Tens of thousands of Canadian shooters get Calibre magazine mailed to them in a package that masks the naked firearms on its cover. For Pierre Plourde, the desire to hide is why the gun-rights movement is failing.
Ekos Doesn’t Only Run Polls About Gun Bans, It Promotes Gun Bans
Screenshot of Ekos commentary at www.EKOSPolitics.ca
TheGunBlog.ca — Ekos Research Associates doesn’t only run opinion polls about gun bans, it also promotes gun bans.
Is Statistics Canada Overstating ‘Firearm-Related Homicides’?
(Update 14 May 2018: Adds data on automatic firearms and “firearm-like weapons” in ninth paragraph.)
TheGunBlog.ca — Statistics Canada’s annual homicide report counted 223 “firearm-related homicides” last year. Data tables accompanying the publication show 30 of them, or 13.5 percent, may not involve guns at all.
‘Guns Are a Symbol of Freedom’: Q&A With Paul Rogan in Yukon
Paul Rogan, the founding editor of Canadian Access to Firearms, wasn’t always a libertarian thinker and activist. The 75-year-old campaigned for the socialists as a young adult in the 1960s in his homeland of France, before discovering the writings of Ayn Rand and experiencing a political conversion.
TheGunBlog.ca met with Rogan today in Whitehorse, Yukon, to talk about guns, politics, and his monthly subscription-only newsletter, which he describes as the most-private way to buy and sell firearms in Canada.
Andrew Scheer, Maxime Bernier, Guns and Politics: Reflections
Screenshot of first-round vote for Conservative Party of Canada leader, 27 May 2017. Source: Conservative.ca
Andrew Scheer wasn’t my first choice to lead the Conservative Party of Canada, until party members elected him last night. Now, Scheer is my guy and I want him to be prime minister.
Following are some thoughts on what just happened and what comes next.
Hoplotheists Need a Religious Exemption From the Firearms Act
Canada accommodates people of all religions, except Hoplotheists1, members of the Church of Pew-Pewphilia. Read the main tenets of Hoplotheism below, then take the poll.
NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Day One: The NRA Store
Nicolas Johnson, editor of TheGunBlog.ca, in Atlanta on 27 April 2017.
I arrived in Atlanta today for the annual meeting of the U.S. National Rifle Association, which describes itself as “America’s longest-standing civil rights organization.” As far as I’m aware, the group’s more than 5 million members make it the biggest shooter’s rights association in the world. Some 80,000 people are expected at this year’s gathering, more than SHOT Show.
Owning a Gun Doesn’t Make You a Criminal, By Steve Barta
The following was written by Steve Barta in December 2015 after a shooting massacre in San Bernardino, California, and tweeted to the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. The CCFR replied today, just as news was breaking of a shooting attack against police officers in Paris.
Timeless relevance?
Gun Owners and the Charter of Rights After 35 Years: Some Links
Today is the 35th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The document’s legal and political significance and symbolism are as important as they are controversial for all Canadians, especially those of us who buy, sell, own, use or work with guns.
The Bigger Story of CBC’s Video Recall Is What It Shows About Us
The bigger story of what happened this week, beyond the micro-victory of getting the CBC to remove and fix a short video on Canada’s gun laws, is the display of power by grassroots, decentralized, uncoordinated, independent, networked actors.
No Selfies With Guns, Halifax Police Say. You Know What We Say?
The editor of TheGunBlog.ca with his first rifle, around age 10.
Police in Nova Scotia have invented a new crime: posting photos of yourself with guns or anything that looks like a gun.
Kevin O’Leary Gets So Much Wrong About Guns
Kevin O’Leary shoots a belt-fed machine gun. Source: Kevin O’Leary via the Ottawa Citizen
Kevin O’Leary, considering a run for leader of Canada’s Conservative Party and then possibly prime minister, gets so much wrong about guns.
Watch ‘Armed and Reasonable: How to Buy a Gun in Canada’ by Vice
Watching “Armed and Reasonable: How to Buy a Gun in Canada” by Vice is a breath of fresh air that is forcing me to ditch some assumptions.
I always braced myself for the worst when reading so-called “news” or watching so-called “documentaries” about guns and gun owners in Canada. Most of what I see in the popular media is a pile of lies, half-truths, illogic, ignorance, misrepresentation, exaggeration and spin to support the view that guns and gun owners are evil. (It’s perfectly OK to have that view, but please support it with facts and logic.)
“Armed and Reasonable” is different.