Don't brush this one off people.
I am known as CanuckZ because I am Canadian and I own many CZs. And it seems I am now screwed.
The Occupational Liberal government have promised during our current election to outlaw handguns across the country, with Prime Minister Paul Martin branding the weapons as nothing but instruments of threat, intimidation and death.
Martin's pledge for a "Canada Handgun Ban" is part of a sweeping Liberal anti-crime platform, announced Thursday from a section of Toronto that has seen dozens of people cut down from gunfire this year.
The Liberals say the homicide rate jumped 12 per cent in 2004. And in the past four years, handguns have accounted for roughly two-thirds of gun-related murders -- up from approximately one-half in the nineties and one-third before 1990.
"This is not the Canada we imagine,'' Martin said from the Jane and Finch area of Toronto. "It isn't the Canada we want for our families."
But while few have argued with the need to fight gun violence, many are expressing criticism toward the Liberal government's proposal to outright ban handheld firearms. They say the Liberals have trained their sights on the wrong target.
The Liberals say they will ban handguns by:
making amendments to the criminal code, inviting participation of provinces and territories to make the ban national;
putting forth a handgun amnesty and buy-back program, based on an Australian model, to collect existing handguns; and
starting a national "Gunstoppers Program" which would reward those who provide information leading to the removal of an illegal gun from the street.
75 new Canada Border Services guards at the border to stop illegal importation of handguns from the U.S.
They will create a 250 member RCMP Advanced Community Safety and Rapid Enforcement Team (doorkickers).
"Taken together, these are reforms designed to reduce crime, to combat gun violence in our cities and better protect Canadians," said Martin.
www.theglobeandmail.com/s...TopStorieswww.thestar.com/NASApp/cs...8332188492www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?id=1142
