By Chris Beach

The Northern View

Northern View: New proposed gun laws

Dec 14, 2022 | 10:05 AM

In recent days there’s been a whirlwind of news reports and controversy about the federal Liberal government’s newly proposed gun laws.

First, the vast majority of legal gun owners in Canada, who use firearms for recreational purposes like shooting at a Rod & Gun range, or for hunting, like famed Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Carey Price from the Ulkatcho First Nation here in B.C., do not harm other people and are for the most part law-abiding citizens.

So the newly proposed restrictions on firearms for recreational users who reside in mostly rural areas of the country, will not significantly reduce gun crimes in urban areas like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

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Criminal gangs, in places like Surrey, who shoot each other in public places and kill innocent bystanders – who by the very nature of their profession do not follow laws, let alone gun laws – they are the problem the federal government should be focusing on… People like Carey Price, the recreational hunter, are not the problem.

And as we’ve seen in recent days, most of the weapons criminals use to shoot people and commit crimes with, are not registered, are already illegal, and are smuggled across the border from the United States.

These new restrictions are clearly misguided, and we’ve even seen the Prime Minister himself back peddling on them in recent days. What we should work toward is a logical policy that will in the very least have some chance of doing what it’s supposed to do. Because ever-increasing gun restrictions are clearly not putting a dent in the rising numbers of gang and criminal related shootings.

How about strengthening the Criminal Code and reforming the Criminal Justice System to finally give police forces the power and teeth they need to catch violent criminals, put them in jail, and keep them there? Isn’t it time we took 3 steps forward on this issue rather than 2 steps back?

My name is Chris Beach and this is the Northern View.

Editors note: The views expressed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of Pattison Media.