Canada’s Trudeau: Guns Must NOT Be Used for Self-Defense
Canadian prime minister doubles down on anti-firearms agenda
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared that citizens do not have a right to use guns for self-defense.
Guns are for hunting and target practice, but never for self-defense, Trudeau warned as he continues his crusade against firearms.
Trudeau is pushing a sweeping measure aimed at freezing the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns in Canada.
Speaking during an interview with the Pod Save America podcast, the PM said his country takes a completely different view of firearms than its southern neighbor.
No one in Canada has a right to use a firearm to defend themselves, their family, or their property, Trudeau declared.
“We have a culture where the difference is: Guns can be used for hunting or for sport shooting in Canada – and there are lots of gun owners, and they’re mostly law-respecting and law-abiding – but you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada,” Trudeau said.
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“That’s not a right that you have in the Constitution or anywhere else,” the prime minister added.
The firearms freeze now being considered by lawmakers in Ottawa is Canada’s “most ambitious attempt yet to restrict access to firearms in this country,” the CBC reported.
Trudeau announced the measure last month shortly after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Although that attack was carried out by an 18-year-old loner with an AR-15 rifle, it sparked renewed calls for control of firearms, including handguns.
Trudeau insisted that the massacre in Texas was not what prompted his effort.
"There’s this sense that Canada responded to the shooting in Texas by suddenly turning around and banning guns,” Trudeau said.
"But we’ve been working on this for seven years …
"We’ve had a lot of setbacks … but since we got elected seven years ago, we’ve been steadily working on strengthening gun control.”
WATCH:
“You can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. It’s not a right that you have,” says Trudeau.
— Roberto Wakerell-Cruz ✝️ (@Robertopedia) June 10, 2022
Criminals could potentially harm you and your family with ILLEGAL guns, but YOU, law-abiding citizen, do not have the right to defend yourself with a LEGAL gun. pic.twitter.com/Lt4oS24TiU
The Trudeau-backed measure allows current handgun owners to keep them, but it would cap the number already in Canada.
"This is a concrete and real national measure that will go a long way towards keeping Canadians safe,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa.
In 2010, Trudeau warned against gun control measures, saying that requirements to register them were a first step toward taking firearms away from citizens.
But even then, he referred to guns as tools for hunting, and not self-defense.
Blackface Trudeau had a different view on guns not too long ago. https://t.co/ZGl7BT3bjt
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) June 9, 2022
"Here in Canada, we have a culture that has grown up with guns and it respects the need to go out into the wilderness and shoot things from time to time,” Trudeau said.
