The recent April 18-19 massacre in Nova Scotia by an gunman, whose murderous troop claimed the lives of 22 people, convinced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the time had come to honor a promise made in 2015 during his first mandate, and reiterated during the fall 2019 election campaign: drastically strengthening gun control. He announced Friday 1er May it would now be banned "To sell, buy, transport, import or use military-type assault weapons in Canada", stating that 1,500 models were affected by this ban.
Among the prohibited weapons are notably the Ruger Mini-14 rifle, with which Marc Lépine killed 14 young women at the École polytechnique de Montréal in 1989, the VZ-58 rifle with which Alexandre Bissonnette, the person responsible for the attack was armed the great mosque of Quebec in January 2017 (6 dead), two tragic episodes that have had a lasting impact on Canada, but also the M16 and AR-15 rifles used during mass killings in the United States or in Christchurch in New Zealand. "These weapons were designed for one and only purpose: to kill as many people as possible, said the Prime Minister. They have no place with us. " The government estimates that there are 100,000 such weapons in Canada.
Conservative opposition
Under an agreement between the parties represented in the House of Commons, which provides that only bills relating to the Covid-19 pandemic are currently the subject of parliamentary discussion, the Liberal minority government of Justin Trudeau decreed a ban on these weapons, without having to ask for the opposition's approval. A “rush” that displeased the Conservative Party, hostile to this type of prohibition – the current campaign favorite for its new leadership, Peter MacKay, was thus photographed in 2014, with a sweater marked with the slogan of the Canadian Firearms Association lobby – holding that "The government should not try to use immediate emotion (from the tragedy in Nova Scotia) to bring about major political changes. "
"This is a historic turning point for Canada. No government had the courage to make such a decision, judge Françis Langlois, specialist in the culture of firearms, researcher associated with the Raoul-Dandurand Chair in Strategic and Diplomatic Studies of Montreal. But this is only the first step. "
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