Professors, gun policy experts urge government to scrap 'flawed' Bill C-21 The group says the bill won't address the root causes of gun violence, or stop the flow of illegal guns coming into Canada
As Canada’s controversial gun control legislation undergoes consideration in the Senate, a group of professors, researchers and firearms policy experts say Bill C-21 will do little to combat violent crime and may even do more harm than good.
The letter — addressed to the prime minister, the leaders of all major federal parties, current Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and members of the house public safety committee — claims the bill contradicts existing evidence on the effectiveness of gun control, and will do little to reduce violent crime in Canada’s cities.
Noah Schwartz, assistant political science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley and the letter’s author, told the National Post he’s hoping to convince senators to make some “fairly substantial” amendments to C-21 to refocus the bill toward public safety.
“The bill, as it stands, doesn’t really address major public safety concerns,” he said.
“There are parts of it that are wasteful, and that are actually harmful to some of the communities in Canada, especially in rural and remote areas.”
“The existing system works very, very well,” Schwartz said.
“Several organizations, including women’s groups and the Canadian Bar Association have said the existing laws are ‘sufficient and preferable to the proposed changes.'”
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/gun-policy-experts-urge-government-to-scrap-bill-c-21