An AR-15 is held by a restricted gun licence holder. (The Canadian Press)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"mostly political"

Fish and Game Association rep feels gun ban ‘tip of the iceberg’

May 4, 2020 | 12:30 PM

A past president of the Red Deer Fish and Game Association says the federal government’s recently announced ban on 1,500 variants of assault-style guns is ‘mostly political.’

“It’s not the guns that kill anybody, it’s the people with the guns. Thousands of people get killed in cars every year and we don’t ban cars,” says Doug Wood, who believes the true answer is imposing harsher sentences upon those caught with guns illegally.

He also says that if hunters do own semi-automatic rifles, they’re usually just a collector’s item or something to fire at a gun range, as opposed to something actually used to hunt.

“This the tip of the iceberg. The next thing they’ll want to do is ban semi-automatic shotguns and pistols,” says Wood, who recalls a visit to Alberta in recent years by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.

Wood says Blair did not share the opinion of Albertans then, and doesn’t now.

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“You’re allowed to own any car you want; well if somebody likes a military rifle used in Switzerland, for example, why shouldn’t he have one of those as long as he’s been deemed to be sane to own it and it’s not an automatic weapon, but a semi-automatic weapon.”

Wood believes the federal government, including Blair and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have a big fight on their hands if it comes to the point where they have to take rifles away.

“I think 90 per cent of the people with these guns are legitimate and honest citizens and they will give them up [prior to the end of the amnesty period], but it will be done very reluctantly,” he says. “The government’s going to come along and say ‘I don’t care if you paid $2,000 for it, the going rate is $1000, so take it or leave it or we’ll confiscate it.’ It’s a bit draconian.”

Friday’s order in council from the federal government states that that military-style firearms are weapons with “semi-automatic action with sustained rapid-fire capability… are of modern design, and are present in large volumes in the Canadian market.”

On Friday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the ban does little to target criminals and instead singles out law-abiding Canadians.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated Saturday that the federal government’s priority on should be strengthening bail conditions and jail sentences. Ford added that instead of spending $600 million on buying guns back from their owners, the money should be invested into beefing up border security to stop guns from being illegally smuggled into the country.