There must be an election due in the next year. Why else would the Harper government minions be running around in the heat of the summer pandering to Conservative interest groups? Take the inappropriately labelled Public “Safety” Minister Steven Blaney, for example. He showed up at a Northern Ontario gun club the other day to announce convenient changes in the rules for happy gun owners. These changes might make some sense in such a remote rural setting but he should try to explain his changes to people at Dundas and Yonge Streets in Toronto.
But you have to admit, the gun nuts love the Tories. We are not talking here about the farmer who keeps a varmint rifle to deter four-legged chicken thieves. The Tories best friends are the wing-nuts who think a fully automatic assault rifle is for target practice. These are the ones who cannot wait for their next home invasion to try out the killing power of their new 45 calibre hand gun.
You would think these people would still be honeymooning with the Tories since the killing of the long gun registry. And the Tories are the people who were going to protect Canadians from financial waste. The destruction of that life-saving aid for our police forces was probably the worst waste of our money (other than Mr. Harper’s hairdresser) since the Tories won a majority in 2011.
But if you are going to pander to your interest groups, you might as well do it well. Take the duplication of licenses needed to own and use firearms. With a single license covering both ownership and use, the Tories are encouraging the collector to take that collectible off their wall and shoot someone or something. It sounds like something they should think about a bit more.
And, typical of the Tories, they are thinking of also causing confusion between federal and provincial regulations. Restricted firearms need a provincial permit to be transported in some provinces and the federal government is thinking of over-riding that requirement. It shows how helpful our federal government can be to its friends.
Meanwhile the police are asking the Ontario government to allow cops to confiscate the auto and the driver’s licence of individuals found with an illegal weapon in their vehicle. And the feds should really reconsider the title of the Public ‘Safety’ Minister.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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