Canada needs countrywide handgun ban, advocates tell federal minister

Ottawa must abandon plans to allow provinces to ban handguns as regional measures will lead to a disastrous patchwork across Canada, advocates say.

Prominent firearm-control advocates are urging the Liberal government to abandon plans to allow provinces to ban handguns, saying regional measures will lead to a disastrous patchwork across Canada.

In a new letter to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, several high-profile groups call instead for countrywide measures to phase out the private ownership of handguns.

“With that policy objective in mind, we believe that offloading the responsibility to ban handguns to provinces would be a disaster: politically, legally, and most importantly, in terms of public safety,” says the letter sent Wednesday to Mendicino.

“We are unaware of any public interest organization that supports this policy and there is no evidence that regional bans are effective.”

The plea follows a pledge this week by Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca to ban handguns across the province should he become premier following the election slated for June.

The April 20 letter was signed by representatives of organizations including the Coalition for Gun Control, PolySeSouvient, the National Association of Women and the Law, Danforth Families for Safe Communities, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, and the Quebec City mosque where six people were killed.

Overall, the signatories call for legislation “that will finally move the bar forward to a point where it will be extremely difficult, if not politically impossible, to turn back in the opposite direction.”

“Rather than catering to the vocal minority and ignoring the evidence of violence and injury prevention experts, it is time for your government to deliver the kind of gun control a majority of your supporters and a majority of Canadians want, and to finally give the victims of gun violence some closure.”