After months of lobbying Ottawa for better national gun control, Quebec Public Safety Minister Geneviève Guilbault welcomed the introduction of the Trudeau government’s handgun bill.
This new version of Bill C-21, presented yesterday by the federal government, provides tougher measures to limit the ownership and trafficking of handguns in the country.
In addition to intensifying the fight against firearms trafficking from the United States and increasing penalties associated with it, the bill provides for the establishment of a ban on the purchase, sale or transfer of handguns nationwide and no longer just among cities and provinces they want, as provided by the old version of the bill.
We are still examining its finer details. […] But first I think it’s a good thingsaid Minister Guilbault in a press scrum with Rimouski.
” They govern the borders. That’s where the guns come in, so that’s what they announced yesterday […] subject to closer reading, this is good news. “
Believe that we have long asked the federal government to actthe minister said he hoped the actions and especially the funds promised would be accompanied by Ottawa’s desire to tackle the handguns problem more firmly.
Also, I’m still waiting for Mr Mendicino [le ministre de la Justice] signed our deal for the money he put on the table for gun violence in Montreal. […] We are afraid of the hot summer, so we need this money. I can’t wait for him to sign this agreementhis confession.
Agreements with indigenous police forces
For her part, Ms. assures us. Guilbault that his government is relentless in its efforts to combat the armed violence that is rampant in Quebec, specifically in the Montreal region.
Recalling the establishment of Operation CENTAURE, which mobilizes the Sûreté du Québec and most of the province’s police forces to combat arms trafficking and gun violence, the Minister announced future agreements with indigenous police forces.
I will soon have an announcement with Mr. [Shawn] Dulude who is both president of the Association of Native and Inuit Police Directors and also director of the Akwesasne police forcehe promised.
” We are acting in all fields in our Quebec jurisdiction, but we need the federal government to do its part and they are doing it. “
So far, the Quebec Government is continuing its detailed study of the bill filed yesterday to the great admiration of Justin Trudeau’s government, whose response to the plague of armed violence is not considered by many provinces, including the Quebec. and Ontario, which is struggling with a significant increase in shootings and gun violence in urban areas.
However, according to some opponents of the ban on handguns in Canada, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, banning or limiting the acquisition of legal firearms will not have the desired impact on gun violence.
According to some experts, since most crimes involving firearms are committed using smuggled weapons, it is more than law enforcement and border controls that the government should focus on, rather than those with ownership of legal weapons.
Source: Radio-Canada
