With the possible exception of an actual war zone, would someone please explain to me why it makes sense for an 18- year-old boy (or girl for that matter) to own an assault rifle that can kill multiple people in a matter of seconds? I’d love to hear that explanation.
It sickens me to see what is happening in the United States these days, shootings and mass killings almost daily now. It is becoming a feature of American culture. Yesterday alone, four people were killed and 28 injured from shootings in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Texas. And then of course there is Uvalde, Texas, where that 18-year-old boy slaughtered 21 people, most of whom were little children.
And in case we Canadians smugly think that this can never happen here, remember the very recent mass shooting in Buffalo, practically on Canada’s American friendly border, where 10 people died in a senseless mass shooting. There was only the Niagara River between us and that one.
To be clear, I am not one of those that believes that all guns, other than those issued to military and police forces, should be banned in Canada. There are legitimate, licensed, and trained gun owners in Canada who use their weapons responsibly for sport hunting or at gun clubs.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was at one time in my career an investor in a business in Lakefield, Ontario, that manufactured .22 calibre sporting rifles.
Personally, I have only fired a rifle once. Early in my time in Huntsville, I was invited along with a friend into a long-established hunting camp during deer season. It was mostly older guys and we soon learned that the main reason we were there was to drag the deer that others shot out of the bush. Nevertheless, we had rifles and were placed on deer watches.
On one of these days, as I was enjoying being outside in beautiful fall weather, a doe jumped out of the bush no more than 20 feet from me. She just stood there and stared at me. I knew what I was supposed to do but just couldn’t, so I shot over her head and she scampered away.
That night was the closest I ever came to being taken to the woodshed. Our dog puncher, a truly wonderful outdoorsman, took me aside and gave me an earful in pretty plain language. He had been tracking that deer for hours, he knew exactly where he put it out, and exactly where I was. He told me there was no possible way I could miss shooting it unless I deliberately missed and then suggested if I didn’t want to hunt, I shouldn’t come to hunt camp. He was right. I never went hunting again.
Clearly, hunting was not for me. But I respect those that consider it a legitimate sport. That does not mean, however, that I believe all guns are for all people. We have no second amendment rights here and those rights are tragically abused in the United States.
Thankfully, we have tougher gun laws here.
I do think, however, when it comes to gun violence, we need to take more seriously the events taking place in the United States and should not be complacent about the possibility of increasing gun violence in Canada, especially when a growing atmosphere of national anger and frustration has the potential to trigger civil disobedience, and indeed has.
I have no problem with legislation requiring gun owners to register their weapons. After all, we register our cars and we need a licence to drive, so why should owning a gun, which can also kill people, be any different? I support vigorous background checks for the purchase of guns and proof that those that own them know how to use them safely. And there is no excuse for anyone, outside of law enforcement, to have access to semi-automatic or assault weapons.
Having said that, I do take exception to the “freeze” on the purchase and sale of all handguns in Canada announced last week by the Trudeau government. In my view, it was a cynical and political move designed to appeal to those of us who were appalled at the mass shootings in the United States. It was a knee-jerk reaction, not well thought out and, at best, is only temporary. It also punishes those who have done nothing to deserve punishment.
More importantly, it does nothing to stop or control the potential of gun violence in Canada. Weapons that are out there are still out there. What it does accomplish, is it allows the government to appear to be taking gun violence seriously, when in the view of many they are actually ducking the real issues.
What are they doing to stop the importation and sale of illegal weapons? What steps has this government taken to control illegal gun smuggling and gang violence that even now is killing Canadians? Why aren’t there tougher jail sentences for those convicted of gun violence?
Most importantly, it is my view that this handgun freeze announced by the Trudeau government is a gift to Pierre Poilievre, clearly now the undisputed leader of the so-called freedom movement in this country and potentially the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. I shudder to think that it might have been a deliberate strategy on the part of the prime minister.
Pierre Poilievre is reaching out to every Canadian who in one way or another is dissatisfied. He is feeding on anger, frustration, and fear. He is appealing to those who want to tear down government and who resort to civil disobedience. He attracts antivaxxers in spite of the science, in the name of freedom, and he will do the same again with his definition of “freedom”, as it relates to the Trudeau government’s ban on handguns. He will gain more supporters as a result. Nothing more than a gift from Justin Trudeau to Pierre Poilievre.
The so-called freedom movement in Canada is growing and Pierre Poilievre, having hitched his wagon to it, right at the front of the line, is growing too. That concerns me. It is, to me, getting too much like the dark side of Trumpism, feeding fear, denigrating institutions, and encouraging dissent. And too often dissent leads to violence.
Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party may believe this will keep them in power for years to come. He may or may not be right. But I, for one, believe the “freedom movement” is misleading and dangerous and think that in this leadership race, Conservatives, including myself, should be careful what we wish for.
For me, being careful means I will not be voting for Pierre Poilievre. He is not my first choice. Not my second choice. Not my last choice.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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The problem is never the firearm rather the person using it. On that note, after examining your hunting story, I do not believe that you were legally entitled to use a firearm for the purpose of hunting or to even be in possession of one. Shooting over the head of a deer makes for an uncontrolled bullet flight. You aim at what you want to hit or don’t send the bullet. If I’m right,then you have identified yourself as part of the firearm problem we supposedly have.
First off a gun is nothing more then a device that fires a projectile. A weapon is anything that is used as one . An assualt rifle is a fully automatic or selective fire prohibited device . And so since the 1970’s in canada . AR stands for the Armlite rifle NOT assault rifle . All scare tactics by the one percenter we are forced to call primeminister. Who knows absolutely nothing about guns ,who solely cares about spreading lies and twisted false stats to gain votes and power . After all he wasted 10’s of thousands of liters of jet fuel to have a beer on indigenous day at his fancy resort in BC . I’ve spent hundreds of hours practicing target shooting just to be good enough to compete in the sport that I love that’s one of the safest sports there is . More people die or are hurt on golf coarses then at ranges in Canada . I take pride in my safety and others after all it’s an Olympic sport that employs thousands in canada .it takes alot of skill and precision and athleticism to shoot a handgun . All of my handguns where solely bought and manufactured to shoot holes in paper and hit steel gongs out to 50 meters . I shoot more bullets in an afternoon then police officers are given to train with in a year . Most of which have never shot a handgun sitting kneeling or from behind a barrier .let alone in a set time frame .my point is it’s horrible that the sport I love that I’m passing on to my son and daughter is going to be destroyed because of BS lies , horribly twisted stats and horrible tragedies that where committed by people who should never had guns or guns that where stolen from police , military or illegally imported . Banning and or freezing handguns is like banning cars cus we are worried unlicensed drivers are going to steal them and kill people . 95 percent of the police chiefs in canada have told our federal government licensed handgun owners are NOT the problem . Criminals dont register their guns . We need to stop wasting billions on stupidity and ignorance and use it to stop the gangs and the drugs that fuel the illegal gun tragedies. Spend the money helping the mentally ill. Yes I believe in the gun laws we have in place before the so called Assault rifle ban
. It’s not the gun but the high capacity magazines that are the issue . Also prohibited in Canada since 1989 . Our system works . It’s not the legal guns . Exploding bullets? Yes horrible horrible tragedy. Exploding bullets thou ? Must be another liberal misstruth . I hope there wasnt another hunter on the other side of that deer ! Shooting up in the air ,like over the head of a deer is extremely dangerous. Obviously there was no hunter/ firearm training coarse taken before you where handed a gun . In all spend the money on the problem . My guns are not the problem . Thanks Common Sense
I don’t think semi-auto .22s are a problem. At the end of the day, further gun control actually increases crime. Chicago and New Zealand are prime examples. Disarming the law-abiding, only serves to embolden the criminals. We also have the right to defend life, as detailed in the CCOC and the Firearms Act.
With the last round fired and King Georges’ British troops and Hessian loaners driven from the land, a new nation set out to draft a constitution. By definition an amendment is something which has been changed or refined. In 250 years, the citizens of the USA have clung stubbornly to the idea that the second amendment can’t be changed.
A ‘Brown Bess’ flint-lock was state of the art then, three or four rounds fired and then a spear or a club. Two and a half centuries of technology have given the “right to bear arms”, a frightening proportion. Those founding fathers had no imagination of what devastation their pronouncement would bring to the nation.
Now in the USA, with no King George the Third to use their guns on, fools, fiends and freaks can choose sex, race, colour, creed or religion as a reason to kill each other. And lawmakers seem frozen in time and unable to amend an amendment.
I grew up in an area where my ancestors used a long gun as a tool; to be fired in anger only if their country required and sanctioned it. I enjoyed being in the camps with my elders and misuse of a weapon, even at a young age, could get you severely chastised.
Canada has pretty comprehensive laws regarding guns, certainly far in advance of our southern relatives and neighbors. Laws are of interest to people who adhere to them and I’m sure most of us are law-abiding. It is those with violent intent toward others we must be concerned with; they seem to find a way.
But I don’t feel that every time a gun cracks in the USA , a knee jerks in Ottawa.
The affliction crosses party lines; whenever convenient.
When firearms, vans and containers of gasoline can be equally lethal, perhaps open honest discussions of appropriate means of access are in order. Further ,include scrutiny on underlying causes for the violence we see. The tool of violence is not the problem, they are imnanimate objects. Should there be reasonable, measured controls? Yes.
Knee jerk reactions and pure virtue signalling serves no ones best interest. Open honest debates and LISTENING to opposing views would be a good start
and a good hard look at current judicial practices should also be on the table.
A persons personal choices of sports shouldn’t have to be justified, but there should be REASONABLE protections for society.
Should there be bans on high performance cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles? Any of the above could cause mass casualties in the wrong hands in the wrong locations.
Bob Edmunds
My hats off to you for shooting over the Doe’s head !!! Thank you.
Mr. Mackenzie, when any issue is met with a “cherry-picked” sole solution, it overly simplifies.
As with COVID, there have to be Many actions taken, and a choosing of best solution priorities first. Anyone can take issue with a single point solution. (recall all the critical nonsense about mask-wearing on its own merits- failure to notice other measures for the public safety; recall all the singular attacks on seatbelt wearing for vehicle public safety)
Stephen Harper did this with healthcare, during his tenure. He “cherry-picked” wait times as justification for more for-profit interests, we heard the echo resound in his Ontario Conservative counterparts.
How willing are the public “we” to learn, to listen?
A freeze on handguns is not going to stop the violence with gangs. Those are not legal firearms, and they have mostly been smuggled across the border illegally. This is nothing more that Trudeau reacting to something that happened in the USA, to get a knee jerk reaction here. This is simply him trying to look like he is doing something, without really tackling the problem.
There are people that do enjoy recreational shooting, and those individuals have done nothing illegal and are no being punished for it.
And on a side note, you mentioned you had fired a gun once in your life. The first time while hunting, you went out into the woods with no shooting, or firearm experience. Not only is that disrespectful to the animal not to know how to execute proper shot placement, and allow for a clean kill, but completely reckless and in no regard for firearm safety.
Guns or knives aren’t the problem, per se. People kill. Upon researching capital punishment some 20 years ago and whether it serves as a deterrent – the answer way back then was No. That may have changed. Also, the guilty on death row often wait years before the death penalty happens. This is a costly process. Personally, I disagree with “an eye for an eye.” Killing is not ok. There have been instances where the accused was sentenced and years later found to be innocent. Just think if this was your son, daughter, friend, relative. Again, taking another person’s life as punishment is not ok. There has to be a better solution.
Hugh, the families of children and friends who have been killed in the handgun crossfire between rival street gangs in Toronto agree with the freeze. Police services know this much better than you and I and they support a freeze on the sale of handguns. The violence is gradually radiating in all directions from our big cities.
Every country has mental health problems caused mainly by hard-to-solve underlying social problems. But every country does not have a gun problem like the one in the US that is now leaking into Canada. The public wants more enforcement by Police. Police want stiffer sentences by the courts. But how much more can we pay for? The root cause must be addressed. The root cause is that we already have way more guns of all kinds in circulation than any rationale could reasonably justify. Who really needs a 30-shot pistol or an AK-47 with shells that explode inside any body they hit? The 20 grade-school kids killed in Texas could only be identified with DNA. Target-practice is a fun sport for some. So is driving 100 KPH on a city street. But they both kill people. The common good must prevail.
Its safe to assume that our police services, border agents, and judges are as hard working and diligent as any other members of society. And they simply cannot keep up with the increasing flow of handguns and military-style assault weapons flowing across the border in planes, trains, ships, trucks, cars, and now drones. A freeze is part of a suite of measures. Assuming most gun dealers are law-abiding, a freeze can immediately interrupt the distribution network. It would take years and millions of dollars to recruit and train the number of police officers, border agents, and judges to have a similar impact. A freeze gives the authorities a tool that can get quicker results. Conservatives scrapped the gun registry everywhere but Quebec and did nothing to replace it. Please let’s not be like the Americans that oppose every idea just because it comes from the opposite party. That approach has taken American society from bad to worse. Doug Ford and Justine Trudeau have shown they can occasionally work together and get difficult things done. We need a lot more of that.
Mr. Mackenzie you may not like guns and there are plenty of people in the same boat as you but it seems that gun crimes are blown up profusely by the media. There should be a law that states if a mass murder of any kind takes place that the ones that commit it not have any limelite by not publishing their names. It seems if the moron wants to die they don’t want to go alone or do it themselves so they head to a school or populated place and cause the crime and then the cops have to shoot them. Then there’s a big media blast with the criminals name published everywhere. Their thinking is they will always be remembered that way or their name will come up in a google search if something. But you say all guns should be registered because they can kill but yet anyone can go buy a set of kitchen knives and run around stabbing and killing people with no registration required. But yet I have to be tested a few times to be able to buy a gun and then I have to go thru the bullshit of renewing every 5 years. Costs more money. My guns have been in a locker for years and I have never heard them once mention anything about going to a school yard and shooting people. So the punishment should match the crime. Bring back capital punishment and if the crime is witnessed by 2 people or caught on video then you go straight to the hanging rope no appeals no court appearance to discuss about your instabilities. Sort of an express lane so we don’t have to feed them for 25 years so they can be let out on the street again because they were good in prison. GUNS ARENT THE PROBLEM…
Why is it every time you have an issue you bring Trump into it? …How about you focus on Canada issues, Canadian crime committers and leave the USA out of it! … From what I see and hear and read every time one of these mass murder situations happens mental illness is involved or is determined to be the ‘root cause’ and used as defense option to protect the ‘person’ who committed the crime using a firearm. Lets focus on the PEOPLE who commit these crimes and deal with them. Many people are killed intentionally with vehicles ie Van attack in 2018 in Toronto, the most recent on London and many more! Do we band vehicles? .. No ..of course not ,,, deal with the ‘person’ ..determine ‘person’ ‘root cause’ and deal with that ‘person’! Last comment .. it is time for very very severe consequence .. NO exceptions! But what are the FEDS doing? ,, making punishment …MEAN ..nothing! What a hypocrite JT is!
I’m not on any ones side in this issue.
They never seem to do anything about the criminals.
Our courts are a revolving door. Criminals in, criminals out,
even for serious gun crimes.
As long as Trudeau makes you believe he is doing something?
The ordinary citizen is a much easier target!
Growing up in Muskoka I came from a hunting family, a hunting village, and a hunting Muskoka. I have never heard of anyone hunting with a hand gun Mr. Mackenzie. My father taught at the gun club and strongly advised everyone they don’t require an automatic rifle for anything you would be hunting in Muskoka. No one except a security person requires one.
Mr. Poilievre has been mentored by Preston Manning and Stephen Harper (Reform to Unite the Right). According to Wikipedia, as an undergrad at U of Calgary, he won an essay contest ($10,000) writing about individual freedom. He is acting true to form, there is nothing “collective” in his view of Canada. (I would love to be challenged on this view).
I politely suggest that he may have missed the sermon at his place of worship on “love your neighbour as yourself” and the parable of “who is my neighbour?”. He will certainly be entitled to a full pension for all of his career years in politics. He is living out is biased “individualism” dream when at home with the Trucker Convoy participants in Ottawa.
I will watch with interest his Bill on the removal of Public Health population safety policy for No Vaccine Mandates – one way to complete more damage on our healthcare system and ruthlessly knock out sections of the population we don’t care about.
This is an easy one for those willing to actually listen……Over 75% of gun related deaths are suicide. Another 8% are domestic violence. In both cases it is most often guns mixed with heavy drinking. So guns and impaired impulse control (due to alcohol) make a tragic combination……You don’t even need to talk about “criminals” to know this is the right thing to do.
The majority of Canadians want more gun control. As a former restricted hand gun owner , I agree with them !