Friday, May 01, 2020

Vox Populi. Time to Ban Assault Rifles - Finally.


"Black Guns" gotta go. The Trudeau government is planning to ban AR-15 style rifles and four out of five Canadians think it's about time.

The Liberals first proposed such a ban on 2015 but, like so many 2015 promises, that went nowhere. The recent mass carnage in Nova Scotia seems to have been enough to revive that pledge - partly. The current proposal is a watered down version of what Mr. Trudeau promised in 2015. Now, instead of a mandatory surrender/buy back, existing black gun owners will have the option to keep their AR's grandfathered into the new law. There's something so 'Justin Trudeau' about that.


78 percent of respondents to an Angus Reid survey support banning assault rifles in Canada. The remaining 22 percent disagree. Gun owners are nearly split, 55 percent opposed to a ban.

Curiously enough, when it comes to banning handguns support drops to two in three.

This is something of a dog whistle issue. In theory, assault-rifle style weapons are no more lethal than many other firearms. It's just that they connote menace to the public but also to many of those who buy them. Why settle for grandpa's old bolt gun when you can go full Rambo? It's this mentality, on display in the freaks who carry them in public in the United States, that lies at the core of this.

I support a ban and always have and I am a gun owner. I've got a lever gun, a "cowboy gun" of the sort you'll have seen wielded by Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne in the westerns. It's safely secured and, when I do get it out it's either to go to the rifle range (now closed for Covid-19) or if I'm heading out into the bush. Its "menace factor" is about the same as Jimmy Stewart and he's long departed.


12 comments:

the salamander said...

.. I'm impressed.. an adult step
re 'deer hunting' & 'farm defense' weaponry..
concealed knives need work too..
specially in the barn, Mound

Scheer will couch his contraryness.. but is forked
yes.. his own anecdotes congratulates himself..
for his husterical 1st ever Whitetail kill shot
and the venison jerky he did so righteously after

A borrowed gun.. at 400 yards doncha know
1 - single - shot ..

Say what ?

No spray of hellfire
& raking fire of 7.62 cal
& the ripping asunder ?

Rural said...

I hesitate to comment on this thread for fear of the ' I have every right to own a gun' mentality spreading from the south, as a rural resident I understand the need for a basic firearm where aggressive large animals may roam. Facing a bear with a stick is not exactly a good idea, however I see NO need for ANYBODY outside of law enforcement and similar authorities to possess either a semiautomatic or a handgun. Its just a Rambo type mindset IMHO.

The Disaffected Lib said...

Rural, I've got my grandfather's old Browning pump shotgun. My dad told me that my grandfather took it with him when he went out to work in the fields and most nights he brought something back with him for the family's dinner.

I wish JT had stuck to his original promise and refused to grandfather possession of assault rifle semi-autos. I guess that would have taken too much spine.

The Disaffected Lib said...

Is Scheer really claiming to have taken a deer at 400 yards with one shot from a borrowed gun? If I ever saw a guy who would close both eyes before pulling (not squeezing, pulling) a trigger, it's him.

Trailblazer said...

22% still favor assault rifle ownership, thats about one in every five persons; still too many.

TB

lungta said...

we have a country corner
with visibility for a quarter mile each way
was unmarked from inception 1900 to 1998
that year an old guy had an accident there
now there are 6 (six) stop signs
from community outrage
mostly blocking the view
just sayin'
wasn't stalingrad saved from the germans because every child over the age of 10 knew how to shoot and had a gun?...teenage girls with over 100 kills
its humanity
for every ghandi or mothger teresa
there is going to be a case of insanity on a bloody rampage cutting a head off on a bus
or sending in the drones or starving with sanctions

the salamander said...

.. apologies to Andrew Scheer..
It was 400 metres.. 308 cal

https://thegunblog.ca/2017/05/27/andrew-scheer-on-guns-recap-of-new-conservative-leaders-policy/

The Disaffected Lib said...

TB, I think when you can achieve a 78 percent consensus on anything that's a terrific win.

The Disaffected Lib said...

lungta, everything can be taken to extremes. I just think the "black gun" craze breeds idiots and idiots shouldn't have guns.

The Disaffected Lib said...

Sal, since it was a loaner I can't credit Scheer with this but the .308 Win is a wonderfully accurate round. It's the favourite of SWAT team snipers.

the salamander said...

.. a friend of mine & I had 270 & 308 respectively. His a classic Ruger bolt action, mine a Browning lever action.. both identically scoped.. zeroed at 200 yards at our local range & gunshop, near Rockwood, Ontario. Ten minutes from the farm & 10 minutes from Guelph. Sandbag target rest etc. Ballistics charting held true with gunshop bought commercial loads. No surprise. The Browning a shorter carbine of course, with a louder bark, nastier kick. Gunshop owner ran a tight place.. skeet & trap & had wondrous black walnut blanks.. and offered all related gunsmithy services. Kinda place you sat on a bench outside spent a few favourable hours, never a hurry. We stopped at The Rockwood Bakery first, brought him a box, baker's dozen of jelly doughnuts, a dozen root beers for the shop cooler and a bag of ice. I usually had something from the garden for his wife.. and some local gossip. Some tall tales got told. Great place to bring a young dog, get it used to distant gunfire first. Damn but there were some fine trap shots there.. I had a 21 once or twice. One of my oldest friends, a neighbor with a 22/250.. always tracked on 24 - 25 regular basis with his dad's over/under and his handloads. He'd introduced me to the owner.. we were both 19 or so.. but seasoned shooters. My other buddy, the 270 guy was a draft dodger from Illinois, farm boy too. Met him when we were bouncers at The King Edward Hotel in Guelph.. which had a nice habit & tradition of hiring varsity athletes needing flexible part time hours.. and large appetites for low or no cost fuel.. Good times.. miss those days

Andrew Scheer ? He's just chaff.. cut from same cloth as Jason Kenney.. not worth spit

The Disaffected Lib said...

I hear all of that, Sal.