Eby supports police on guns and gangs, flanked by four law enforcement candidates

NDP Leader David Eby promised Sunday to support police in British Columbia to keep illegal guns off the streets and protect communities, but accused B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad of planning to make the province less safe.

NDP Leader David Eby promised Sunday to support police in British Columbia to keep illegal guns off the streets and protect communities, but accused B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad of planning to make the province less safe.

Eby, speaking while flanked by four New Democrat candidates with law enforcement experience at a news conference in Surrey, said Rustad has repeatedly said he would direct police not to enforce federal gun laws if elected to form government on Oct. 19.

The NDP will ensure police have the tools to keep illegal guns from criminal organizations and protect families from potentially deadly domestic violence, he said.

Eby said the NDP will continue to support the federal hand-gun and semi-automatic weapons seizure law and back B.C. police anti-gang programs, including the Integrated Gang Homicide Team, which focuses on gang-connected homicides and improving police surveillance of gang activities.

“It is unfathomable to me that anyone who would seek to run to be the leader of the province of British Columbia would direct the police not to enforce federal laws designed to go after gangsters, criminals, people who beat up family members," said Eby. "I can't understand it, and I don't stand for it."

Last month, Canada's National Firearms Association posted on social media a video of a Rustad news event where he discussed his party's gun law plans.

Rustad said during the event that federal gun law to take away guns from law-abiding citizens is "the wrong approach," especially towards residents living in rural areas.