Liberals are Canada’s best option for gun control: advocacy group

Mark Carney’s Liberals are the best suited to implement additional gun-control measures in Canada, according to a popular advocacy group.

PolySeSouvient says the Liberals are the federal party most likely to remove assault weapons from circulation in Canada and ban large-capacity magazines.

It’s based on what the gun control advocacy group describes as a thorough analysis of each federal parties’ actions and commitments over the last four years – including public pledges by leaders and a survey sent to each party at the start of the campaign.

The group points to what the Liberals have already done as a sign of the party’s commitment: prohibiting hundreds of models of assault weapons; freezing handgun sales; and combatting drug trafficking.

Since May 2020, the Liberal-led federal government has banned more than 2,500 varieties of what it calls assault-style firearms — semi-automatics with sustained rapid-fire capability. The prohibited firearms can no longer be used, bought or sold in Canada, with a limited exception in some cases for sustenance hunting.

PolySeSouvient says the Liberals’ proposed buyback program – which is already available to businesses and slated to expand to individual owners this spring – is another sign of the party’s commitment.

The advocacy group ranked the Bloc Québécois as the next best suited to support gun control in Canada, given the party’s support of Ottawa’s efforts over recent years.

The Green Party comes next, according to PolySeSouvient, given the party’s “common-sense arguments” and promise to support the assault weapon buyback.

Drawing the ire of the gun-control advocates were the NDP and the Conservatives.

PolySeSouvient accused the NDP of empty promises and lacking credibility. It argued the party “actively undermined the Liberals’ attempts to include a ban on assault weapons in Bill C-21. … They also pushed to exempt ‘practical shooters’ from the freeze on handguns purchases, which essentially would have cancelled the freeze, drawing accolades from the gun lobby.”

At the bottom of the rankings were the Conservatives, with PolySeSouvient warning an elected Pierre Poilievre could reverse gun-control measures implemented by the Liberals given’s the party’s long-standing opposition to Liberal gun-control efforts.

“For those who want semi-automatic military-style assault weapons to become legally available again for ordinary citizens and who want to get rid of reasonable safety measures like ensuring guns are automatically removed from domestic abusers and ensuring sellers verify the validity of a potential buyer’s firearms licence, the Conservative Party is the party for you,” said Heidi Rathjen, the coordinator of PolySeSouvient and a student at Polytechnique during the 1989 massacre.

–With files from The Canadian Press